


Flightless Fight

by Le_mango



Category: overwatch
Genre: Dry and salty, F/F, Have I seduced you yet? Babe we are already married, I like my characters like I like beef jerky, It gets fixed I swear, NPC deaths oh no, Slow Burn, as in I slowly burn everything to the ground, character injury
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2018-10-04 02:42:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 44,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10265819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Le_mango/pseuds/Le_mango
Summary: On official hiatus for now. I'm working on some other things since I have the focus of a very unfocused person.





	1. Pre-mission

_“System Calibrations at 75%”_

               Angela closed her eyes and prepared for the sensation of the Valkyrie suit connecting into her spinal implants. Easily the worst part of suiting up, in order to have precision control of the wings it was a necessary step. I also didn’t help that it had been over a month since she had last put it on. Typically she could run all of the diagnostics in two minutes when she was going in and out of the suit on a daily basis. Research and a current shortage of surgeons at the local hospital had been eating up plenty of her free time. Angela patiently waited for the wings to fully sync. It was not a painful feeling by any means; but she just could never predict the exact moment it would happen. “Like jumping into a hot shower”, she jokingly thought to herself, “Regardless of the temperature as soon as the water hits your back there’s always that moment of panic.” A small laugh escaped her as the mental image of Fareeha Amari’s likeness to a small T-rex when she would get in the shower. She is definitely not the most graceful person when it comes to cold anything. (Although, when in certain moods, Angela would often turn the water temperature down right before her poor wife hopped in just for the sake of watching her childish reactions and dinosaur arms.) Angela jumped as she suddenly had feeling of mechanical muscles winding into her nervous system. She would never quite get over the feeling.

_“Wing connections optimal, Finalizing Nuro-transmition and sensory. System calibrations at 86%,”_

Hummed the robotically smooth AI. Angela began subconsciously stretching and testing the wings. Each gesture was accompanied by a small swish or whoosh, onomatopoeia’s are subjective so your choice. Having such an intricate connection between her suit and her nervous system no longer brought doubts to her mind. She had built the implants that replaced parts of her spine practically by herself. Once tying into her system the control became second nature. Often the wings would move seemingly alone based on her current mood. There have definitely been occasions where Jesse or Lena got to close and had been smack by the golden hard-light feathers. Especially Lena, she had a particularly bad habit of blinking in and surprising those around her. Her train of though was interrupted by the buzzing on her halo. Quickly placing it over her head Angela answered.

               “Ja, what do you need”

               The ever sarcastic voice of Fareeeha responded, “I need you to take more time getting ready. We were supposed to leave yesterday.”

               “According to what watch?” Angela quipped back.

               A pause. “New comm link, who this?”

               Angela let out a small huff and rolled her eyes, “Is this really the game you want to play right now _liebling.”_ She smothered the last words with all of the overly sweet intonation she could muster. “Are you not the one who left an entire set of legs at home before a mission? We had to take an extra half hour to go back and get them.”

               “Whoa, hey that was NOT what happened.”

               “Ah, so you admit to it.”

               “NO!” Fareeha replied with her voice pitched much higher than her usual calm cadence. “I just maybe sort of happened to kinda..”

               Angela cut her off before she could come up with one of her excuses knowing full well that it would turn into some heroic act. “Honestly Fareeha, you’re the biggest child I know.”

               “Well, sorry. Usually we start these calls asking what the other is wearing. You could say I’m a little lost” Fareeha quipped.

               “I DON’T know WHAT you’re trying to imply,” Angela replied feeling a blush rising to her face.

               “Ahh, is that so? Maybe I will have to come down and show you just what I’m referring to.” Fareeha replied activating her full flirt mode.

               “Reeha, time and place! This is an open comm line between the entire strike team. If you don’t stop whatever this is your trying to pull I know an open couch you can sleep on when we get back.” Angela responded with a simmering intensity. Her face now was a glowing shade of red.

               “But,” Angela could hear the tell-tale sign that her wife was still trying to hold back one last comment. “there’s still 10 minutes before we are supposed to meet I doubt anyone else is here yet.”

               “Fight me Reeha!”

               “In mouth-to-mouth combat?” There. There it was. She has probably been waiting hours to say that. Angela closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

               “ _Mein Gott,”_ Angela whispered under her breath, “Fareeha Amari, there is a couch with your name written all over it.”

               “Please don’t make her sleep on the couch!” A new voice pleaded. “Every time that happens she just totally spams my live streams.”

               “Oh?” Fareeha replied with mock hurt. “That is tasteful commentary Hana.”

               “Uh, Bull-est of Shit? You kept leaving crappy puns and asking where Captain Kirk is.” Hana Whined

               “Well yeah, it is Star Wars, Captain Kirk is bound to show up.”

               “STARCRAFT. I can’t believe this my own adoptive mom and you can’t even keep that straight.” Hana replied quite irritated.

               “Frankly there are many things I have a hard time keeping straight.” You could practically hear the strain as Fareeha tried to keep a blank face,

               “Can. You. Not.” Hana replied regretting not just muting her comm feed sooner. “You two are sooOO gross.”

               “Sorry Hana,” Angela said finally re-joining the conversation wanting nothing more than the ability see the exaggerated motions Hana made when being teased. “I’ll be there soon enough to smack the smirk off a _certain_ Amari.”  The system calibrations had ended long ago but Angela had been too distracted to notice. She quickly found her staff and triple checked that all of her extra supplies and med-packs where in place. Finally she turned and picked her blaster from the workbench and insured that its battery was on full charge. Holstering her weapon at the hip she walked out of the lab and headed towards the hanger. Once in there she found a few Overwatch members waiting idly on the catwalks above that connected to the ship there were taking. She locked on to Lena, who was closest to the edge and let the Valkyrie boost her to the higher level. “ _Guten Nachmittag_ Lena _,”_ Angela called out before landing lightly besides Lena. She had learned from previous mistakes that is was best to not suddenly land besides preoccupied teammates while on the catwalks. Lena could blink back with no problem but trying to catch other surprised team members? That could be a little harder.

               “Oi, Hey doc!” Lena responded, chipper as ever. She quickly pocketed her phone; no doubt that she was texting Emily. “Looking just lovely as always. There’s a cheeky Egyptian in the plane already if you wouldn’t mind getting her to put a sock init.”

               “Ja, I’m already well aware of that.”

               “I know your anniversary is coming up right in the middle of this mission but it’s still nuts how little shame she’s got.”

               Angela let a hand cover her smile. While true their anniversary was coming up in a few weeks Fareeha always acted out more when it meant she could tease Hana. “Don’t worry Lena I will make sure she behaves once the mission starts.”

               “Yeah, Alright doc. If she doesn’t stop though I’m holding you responsible.” Lena responded vaguely pushing a finger against Angela’s halo. She then pulled out her phone and began furiously texting once more. Angela could understand how Fareeha’s non-stop flirting was a bit irritating, especially to Lena at times. After all Pharah and Mercy get to go on most missions together. While Emily was a brilliant working with physics and electrical data she was definitely not suited to work in a battlefield, often letting emotions take too much control of her choices. Nor could she hope to keep up with a blinking Tracer. Angela caught glimpse of Fareeha in her polished blue armor leaning over a map, her helmet on the table besides her. Angela quickly snuck up behind her Egyptian.

               “ _Dummkopf,_ ” Angela teasingly said as she lightly bopped Fareeha on the top of her head.

               “What?” Fareeha asked still leaning over the map. “Did you come to accept my duel?”

               “You think I would ever turn down such a well thought out offer?” Angela replied incredulously putting a hand over her heart.

               “Har, Har.” Fareeha turned and stood straight. When wearing her Raptora armor she stood a good eight inches taller than her wife. Three more than usual and it was eleven when she had her helmet on. (Not that Fareeha was counting or anything, but it did give her an advantage when trying to sway Angela in her stubborn nature.) “I can’t believe Hana doesn’t like my, artistic criticism of her streams.” Fareeha let an open palm trace an ark in the air.

               “You know that’s not what I’m referring to.” Angela said clipping her words and staring straight up at Fareeha’s mock doe eyes.  Fareeha stared back and raised one eye brow. She crossed her arms and gave a little huff.

               “Fine _Liebling,_ It’s Starmites not Star wars.” Fareeha responded.

               “Before that. Want to try again?” Angela’s accent was leaking in. Fareeha knew she was getting close to crossing a line. Even now Angela was beginning to cross her arms and had a hip cocked out to the right.

               “Okaaay, Stardust.” Fareeha said while throwing her hands up in defeat. “You caught me.”

               “Ahhh, shut up already!” Hana shouted from the cockpit of the ship. She threw a half empty water bottle at Fareeha that landed a few feet short, But Fareeha still jumped to dodge it as it skidded across the floor. Fareeha laughed and the two continued to throw insults back and forth. Fareeha turned with a stupid grin to face her wife. A quite irritated wife.

               “Ah-ha, you’re here, still.”  Fareeha mumbled, grin now wiped off her face.

               “And?” Angela inquired, one finger tapping one her crossed arms. “ _I would choose your words very carefully if I were you. Tone it down now before Lena and Hana throw you out of this ship”_ Angela had gone full German. Fareeha knew that could easily make a comment about the fact that she could fly but Angela speaking in that manner meant she might not get resurrected should she die on the next mission.

               “I…”  Fareeha tried to take a step backwards but instead stumbled into the table. “Sorry.”

               Another minute of an intensive starring contest that made Fareeha feel like she was the one that was a foot smaller. Angela’s face cracked in to a huge grin. “I sorry?”  She gave a small laugh and rose to her tip-toes to give Fareeha a small kiss on the cheek. “ _Danke_. But I believe there is someone else you should apologize to rather than me.”

               “Fiiiiine.” Fareeha shrugged. “Hana, I’ll do all the laundry when we get back.”

               “Hmmm, debatable” Hana pondered “What if you also delete the _Yomama-s_ , and _birbbirb69_ accounts you use to spam my live streams, plus the laundry.

               “I am not getting rid of the _birdbirb_ account. That one has over two-thousand followers.” Fareeha responded mildly hurt.

               “Well, then delete the _Yomama_ account and you can’t make. any. more. Star Trek jokes.” Hana countered.

               Fareeha let out a long, over exaggerated sigh. “Fine, but only if you do dishes for a day.”

               “Hell yeah! Deal” Hana blurted out without a second to lose.

               “Language Hana!” Angela butted in.

               “I mean, thank you for your sacrifice.” Hana slowly rephrased, giving a half bow then turning back to editing some odd compilation of footage.

               “See that wasn’t so bad was it.” Angela nudged Fareeha’s arm. Together they turned towards the lower parts of the ship to leave their suits and better settle in for the flight.  “But also I think you’re now in charge of dinner for the next week.” Fareeha just stuck out her tongue at the added chore.

               Lena who had since made her to the cockpit leaned over and whispered to Hana. “What in the bloody hell Just happened?” Hana just shrugged.

               “You should see them when they argue about which Animal Planet documentary is the worst. They made me judge between their pro-con lists”

               “Worst?”-Lena asked confusion apparent on her face- “How, wait why, what could be bad about an animal documentary”

               Hana pat Lena’s unruly hair. “You would be surprised my friend. I’m pretty sure Fareeha is holding the current winning streak for that one though.”

               “What.” Lena continued to whisper over and over to herself even as the ship filled with all of the remaining agents.


	2. Drop Point

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Excuse me, someone left some plot in my story. Is that a mistake?

               As soon as they reached cruising altitude Athena announced that there trip would take approximately four hours to get from Spain to the depths of India.  Everyone had stored their armor, weapons, and snacks on the lower level. Hana was already up $40 on Lena in a game of horse and Lena kept insisting on double or nothing. Winston was scrolling intently through mission reports and news articles from the last few days. Jesse was passed out on one of the benches, a cigarette butt managing to hang on for dear life as he drooled from the other side of his mouth.  Angela had taken to putting an un-holy amount of braids in Fareeha’s hair. Transportation was by far the least glamorous part of world saving but at least Athena had good tastes in music selection, usually.

               Winston broke the casual silence after a few hours when he finally received a message from their team that was already on the ground. “Uhhm, huh.” Most of the team turned and began to wander to the table, Jesse drooled. “So, we have gotten word from the original team and the current location of where we are to meet. As you know..”

               “Oi, one minute McDroolzel is still out.” Tracer pointed out.

               “Ah, yes, it would be imperative that he listens to this. We should wait until-”

               Lena flung a basketball at the wall inches from Mecree’s head. Needless to say loud basketball _POINGS_ are enough to break any persons slumber. “It’s noon-a-clock you dosser. Get your arse over here.” Jesse stood up and began stumbling to the table, the cigarette butt finally falling to meet death on the ship floor.

               “What, I was lisnin over here, just had my eyes closed.” Mecree said drunkenly as he continued to waddle closer, no doubt one of his legs had also fallen asleep. Fareeha gave Angela a nudge and her best ‘look he stole your excuse face’.

               “Okay now that we are all here?”- Winston glanced around quickly to insure he had not missed anyone else-“Now that we’re here I can final give our mission objectives. We are looking at two or three weeks of civilian evacuations over the entire Raput region. We are working with local forces and our team that’s been out already for, uh, eighteen days.”

               ‘Has it really been that long already?’ Fareeha thought to herself. “Why exactly did they need support for such simple evacuations? They have already been on the ground for weeks and they have support of a local militia I assume.”

               “You would think so.”-Winston adjusted his glasses- “One of the problem is the evacuees. No, wait, the sheer number of evacuees. The area was never quite rebuilt after previous wars, and many of the civilians are poor, disabled, or even unable to leave. There has been out breaks of gang violence and small terrorist groups that have turned a 550 mile area into a war zone and mine field. Jacks team has even tried to move some lesser gangs out only to be attacked by them later. And our ‘local militia’ is a group of untrained volunteers. It is a mess, we have to get the innocent out and play hide-and-seek with groups that are killing just for fun.”

               Angela let her face curl in disgust leaning forward and away from Fareeha’s. “So this has just turned into another war. Which areas of the map have they cleared already?  Is it really not possible to move the willing civilians out of the conflict areas without having to search out and then confront the terrorists?”

               Winston let out a quick breath. “No.” He declared shortly. “And they are not seeking out the terrorists, more often than not they are the ones being hunted.”

               “Jack wouldn’t need backup for a few brainless men who love bloodshed. What is the real problem we are having here?” Angela said, her brow pulling in with concern.

               “Athena, pull up the geographical map.” Winston commanded. The map on the table shifted into a dimensional replica of the area. “The problem we are running into is that they started in the mountain areas over here. They were able to safely cover all of the rural towns with little problem. But the reaming gang members seemed to get the word out and down to the cities where they are now struggling. Not only does the enemy constantly have the upper hand they are placing traps, bombs and anything in the way to prevent the people from leaving. They uhm” Winston trailed off in a separate thought.

               “What is it Winston?” Angela enquired. Winston glanced to the floor and took a deep breath.

               “Hostages. They are constantly pulling civilians for hostage use. They are not even making demands for money or political power!” Winston let a large fist slam down on the table, the map flickered. “All we know is this is a blood seeking mafia that has controlled the area for far too long! These fools cannot be reasoned with and it’s our duty to bring as many of them down as we can and get as many civilians out as possible!” Winston pulled his fist off the table and nervously readjusted his glasses. “Sorry, I seemed to have lost my temper.”

               “It’s alright Winston. We’ve all been here before. Let’s just get as many out as we can.” Lena soothed as she pat Winston’s furry shoulder.  “Let’s get to our side of business.”

               “Yes. Yes of course. So below we have plenty of supplies we need to drop off due to the food shortages among refugees. The plan is that the birds are going to do an air drop and meet directly with the front ground team. We know they need plenty of medical support so you’re going to be busy as soon as you hit the ground.” Mercy and Fareeha nodded.  “The ground team has created a chain with the local militia that sends the refugees back across the areas that they have cleared previously. After leaving you two we will drop off most of the crates to a temporary base that has been set up about 20 miles west of the front line. We should circle back and be grouped up again within a few hours. After that we are going to be able to further build the next steps. Are we all clear?”

               There was a unanimous nodding of heads. Jesse scratched his beard and vaguely mumbled something about going back to sleep. Athena announced that they would be reaching the first drop point in less than thirty minutes Fareeha was the first human to speak coherently after the group broke apart. “I guess we better get suited up.” Angela nodded and started heading to the stairs. “Although, I do prefer it when we are taking things off.” Fareeha whispered only loud enough for Hana to hear.

               Hana whipped around, “Do you even have an off switch?!” She asked a disbelief apparent in her voice and face.

               “What are you talking about?” Angela inquired turning around, blissfully aware of Fareeha’s teasing.

               “Don’t worry about it.” Fareeha waved a hand as if to push Angela’s concern away.    

               They were both descending the stairway when Angela glanced behind and nonchalantly threw a thought out. “Frankly I would rather take something off you then have to suit up.” Fareeha bit her lip but it wasn’t enough to stop an ugly snort from escaping. They absolutely spend too much time together.

*****

               Athena’s perfectly smooth voice came on. Three minutes before the door opened and they were to jump out of the speeding air craft. Angela was constantly shifting her anxiety obvious as she flipped the caduceus back and forth between its two settings. The tip of it switching from blue to gold, blue to gold. One lip tucked in as she kept biting it. “Ready?”

               “Are you?” Fareeha responded with a wry grin.

                 “Something about this just doesn’t feel right. I don’t understand how there are so few resources being put towards these people from the local governments. I mean with the number of civilians out there should be army squadrons out supporting them. And the gangs, they seem far to organized for some typical group.”

               “Hey,” Fareeha put a thumb on Angela’s chin lightly pulling down so she would stop biting into her lip. “When has war ever made sense? We are here to protect the innocent. Even if that means we are the only ones fighting.”

               “We’re not miracle workers, there is still too much about this that is unknown.” Angela looked up into Fareeha’s eyes, they were also full of worry. Fareeha’s hand trailed up behind Angela’s head and she dropped down so their foreheads could touch. Letting her fingers trail little circles into the blonde hair Fareeha took a breath as if to speak then let it out again.

               “I don’t actually know what to say now. When have we ever had all the facts before making decisions like this? I fight to protect and you heal those that I couldn’t. We can only hope that makes enough of a difference.” Fareeha paused again and Angela moved first, pressing closer to Fareeha until their lips met for a short moment.

               “We can only hope.”

               Lenas voice came through the systems a few moments later. “All righty birds, I’m taking over the controls for the drop. The location has already been set on your maps. I just need to warn you that the heat will make the ground look further away than it is so watch your altitude if you want to hit the ground and not break a leg. After dropping you’re going to need to jump a few clicks north while I change course for this baby. After that you’re on your own to get to the meeting point. You copy that?”

               Pharah answered reluctantly pulling away from mercy, their mission had officially started. “We copy. Just give us a countdown to drop.” Her voice was confident and steady as she pulled herself back into the role of soldier. Rolling her shoulders she walked to the gate that was already beginning to open and lowered her golden visor.

               “Starting the countdown. Drop point in 10, 9,”

               “Follow my lead, wouldn’t want to break a leg before starting.” Pharah said, a forced grin was the only remaining area not covered by armor.

               “You wish I would break a leg. Then you could finally keep up.” Mercy replied as a blue field dropped from her halo. “See you on the ground.”

               “3, 2, 1. Get out of my ship!” Pharah jumped first Mercy locked on to her and followed as she boosted away from the comfort of the ship. One more jump and they were in the clear. “Changing course, hopefully you guys made it since bird’s don’t tend to mix well with high power aircraft.” The ship tilted and started heading back the way it came and within a few seconds it nothing more than a dot in the distance.

               “Pharah online. Comm line secure between the two of us, you know what that means right?” Pharah could only hope that the seductive eyebrow wiggle could be heard over the line.

               “Nope.” Mercy’s wings tucked completely flat to her back and she allowed gravity to pull her upside down into a dive. The world inverted as she began to speed for the ground. Hair racing wildly around, she located the orange dot signifying their landing point approximately a mile East. Looking at stats in her visor she also saw that it was a nice round 115 degrees in Fahrenheit. Thank heavens the Valkyrie had an excellent cooling system installed, she would melt in seconds if left on her own. A warning flashed about reaching to high of speeds. Wings flaring out she flipped so she was now gliding with her back towards the ground.

               “Well, someone is showing off today. You know most people only have mechanical controls.”

               Mercy folded her arms across her chest seeming unimpressed. “I’m just wondering what you wanted to say before.”

               “Hey! I was not going to say anything remotely flirtatious.” Pharah responded still a few yards above Mercy.

               “Are you sure about that?” Mercy replied, a hint of doubt in her voice.

               “Most certainly not.” Pharah paused as a small chuckle came over the line. “I do need to warn you that as soon as we hit the ground we are dealing with hundreds of locals who will need medical attention. I have to go straight to Jack and begin planning out how we are going to clear the city. We probably won’t even see each other for the rest of today.”

               “I had already assumed so.” Mercy finally turned back to face their approaching destination. Not only will there be plenty of injured locals the condition of the mission also led her to believe that there were few other medical supplies besides what she was carrying. They had more on the ship but it would be at least two hours before that came back. She knew too well that waiting rooms could become dangerous if you chose the wrong person to help first. Either fights would arise or you could just happen to miss the signs of internal damage that would be lethal if untreated. “I’m surprised my hair isn’t already gray.”

               “I thought you stressed yourself out for fun.” Pharah countered. She began dropping altitude so she was closer to Mercy’s side. They could now see the distinct forms of people milling around one of the more stable looking buildings. There was an outside request for someone to join the comm line. Pharah passed the request and an unfamiliar voice started asking for information to insure they were not hostile. Pharah responded and they were in the clear. “Watch your landing.” She said in a borderline mocking tone. “Also don’t overwork yourself. We have weeks that need to be covered I don’t want you burning out the first day.”

               “I would never.” Mercy said hand referring to her own face. It was a lie and they both knew it. Minutes after they touched the ground Lucio pulled Mercy into a brief hug then into the room where the injured were being held. Pharah was met with a quick salute and could hardly watch Mercy go before she was pulled to a tent full of makeshift soldiers.


	3. Seeing Red

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy, for the next chapters probably wont be this long. If you see anything wrong or that I could do better please say so, I maketh mistakes. *I love you all like bread, you keep me alive*

             Pharah glanced around the crowded tend where the meeting was being held. It was concerning that 76 seemed to be the only other person that had actual military training and experience. She was told there were about forty people that had formed local militia in order to help move the civilians out of harm’s way but based on the few that were in the tent it was obvious why the first team called for backup. Most of them were merely teenagers who knew enough to point and shoot. Even worse was that a majority only spoke their native language so 76 had been struggling to lay out any complex forms of attack. Part of the reason they requested her to join the backup squad was the fact that she could speak Hindi well enough that they could actually communicate with their soldiers. 76 had pulled her into the tent with little explanation; he needed her to help form a plan and then give it to a group of untrained soldiers. Nine of the locals weren’t even twenty yet, but they refused to be taken away with the rest of the civilians.

             Soldier 76 opened a holographic map to the side of the waiting group and began running more information by Pharah. They were able to cover six miles of the city in a day if they when any father communication started to cut out or break completely. When asked how their state of the art radio equipment was not working, 76 couldn’t answer. They could only guess that the gangs had stolen military grade radio equipment that could interfere with their own. The more Pharah learned the more red flags flew up. Jammed communications, red flag. Untrained soldiers, red flag. Lack of basic supplies, red flag. Overly organized gangs of terrorists, red flag Red flag, red flag, and red flag. It’s amazing they have survived this long running on such a bare minimum but, luck can only last so long. More importantly luck can only keep you alive for so long. After hours of pooling ideas they were able to pull together one with reasonable chances of success.

            “If you haven’t noticed we aren’t operating in the most ideal of conditions.” 76 concluded dryly. She could only imagine the pout under his mask. “Squad leaders come up front!” Seven of the locals moved to the map. They ranged from a nervous man in his thirties to a young girl who could easily blend into a punk rock band. From there they were able to begin assigning blocks to the teams. Two squads for each area. They were meant to search the buildings for traps, hostages, or any useful supplies. The extra team was to stay on the rooftops for recon and backup should enemies be encountered. Each of the groups would have some of the Overwatch members with then as well. The punk rocker was the leader of the recon support team, Mercy, Pharah and Bastion would stay with them. A younger man was the first to voice join the planning. He had thick curly black hair and was missing half of a front tooth. Of all the locals he seemed the most fit for a soldier role.

             “Based off of yesterday we suspect that there are plenty of people being held in these buildings.” He referenced an old library and other businesses in the center of the map, a slight lisp coming with some of his words. He continued, “We have also been seeing more tripwires and advanced traps in these areas. We believe that we are relatively close to one of the gangs main hideouts.”  Pharah listened intently being sure to ask questions regarding the skills of the different teams as well. Most of the teams had been formed into a defense and disarming pairs. Ian, the curly haired local, was in charge of the main disarming squads. A middle aged women was on the defense team that would follow Ian’s and protect them from outside threats while they took out the stationary ones. All the other teams followed the same sort of patterns. “Just remember that we have time and not people. Do not make any rash decisions that could put you or other lives in danger.”    

               Pharah nodded and stepped into the focus. “Thank you Ian that was the detailed analysis we needed.” He allowed a quirky smile to show and was suddenly more bashful then the young soldier that was just speaking.  Pharah grabbed the attention of all of everyone in the tent and began giving the final steps of their plan. All of the militia members seemed much more engaged when they were being spoken too directly rather than having to wait for translation. “Be aware of your surroundings and stay safe. Should a larger situation arise we have support that will come to you. Get some rest; we will begin moving out tomorrow morning.”  She ended reminding them that their priority was to save the civilians, don’t peruse a fight if you can avoid it.

               They called the meeting to end and everyone began leaving the stuffy room. A handful of people stuck around to talk to Pharah or 76 about other ideas. Some even asked for autographs for their children and other relatives. The punk rocker simply shook Pharah hand and winked before leaving. That threw Pharah off a little but she did wonder what would happen if she said she was already taken. Once everyone had left she shuffled around for a moment letting her hands bounce off her thighs. Knowing not to interrupt a working Mercy, Pharah instead decided to wander around the makeshift base and get to know some of the people she would be working with.

*********

               If Mercy had enough energy to scream internally she would. Instead she had to settle for a simple eye twitch.  It had been nearly five hours since they touched the ground and she had not stopped running since. The room of those waiting to be treated was overflowing. Simple injuries like cuts and broken arms Lucio was able to handle and that was a large portion of them. The minority was the problem, severely injured patients were weak or passing out from former blood loss. A man had lost a leg and infection was surrounding the wound. Young children screamed for mothers that were no longer there and Mercy was filled with a sense of fear. Before she could get lost in her thoughts Lucio took her to one of the rooms where they were treating patients. They walked in on a doctor resetting a women’s broken leg. The crack made Lucio flinch but Mercy could only feel relief that she was not the only surgeon here. They met with hasty pleasantries. The relief was also apparent in the other doctor’s eyes now knowing that he had the assistance of a world revered doctor now. A head count told mercy that she had eight volunteer nurses and two more trained doctors. It was nowhere near what they needed but it was better than she had expected. She was immediately pulled into a makeshift operating room for a man who had multiple bullet wounds across his leg and lower torso. A half hour later the patient was stable enough that she could leave him to the other surgeon and two nurses.

               It was one case after the next. She handed her caduceus staff to Lucio so he could work on the most recent wounds while she could work on what was in front of her. (Since the staff really only was effective on wounds inflicted within the last few hours, he only was able to help a handful before returning it.)  Many of the doctors had resorted to stabilizing a patient just enough that they could transport them to the better hospitals hours away.  After the first man, Mercy went into the waiting room and pulled the next patient into an operating room of her own. A young girl, maybe fourteen, with acidic burns covering parts of her face but had mostly eaten through most of her small arm. From one of the booby traps she had said. Her lower arm was un-savable due to the excessive nerve and tissue damage, but she could save the elbow and reduce scarring to the face. Three more patients, a boy who was just having bad asthma attack. Mercy was pulled into another operating room with a struggling surgeon. It was a man she had seen before with the infection taking over his missing leg. A few minutes into surgery they discovered more internal damage and struggled to repair it in time. He passed away forty-five minutes after they thought they had repaired everything. Their ship finally returned and they were flooded with much needed supplies but there was little time to rejoice. They were able to send fourteen critical patients with Lena to be flown to the nearest hospital. D. Va was tasked to watch that the doctors didn’t begin overusing their new found medical stash since they still had to ration for the weeks to come. One person after the next, Mercy gave all the soothing words she musters to every patient streaming by. Six more patients, two lost limbs, one will probably be unable to speak again. Suddenly she was ripped out of auto-pilot as one of the doctors blocked her from grabbing another patient by barricading the door to the waiting room.

               “Sit down.” He commanded in broken English while pointing at a side exit, the thick accent preventing him from saying much more.

               “Excuse me?!” Mercy replied wanting to tell him off for preventing her from helping more of those that had been waiting. Or even rant that she was so full of Nano-tech that she could go three days without sleeping. She was stopped when he put a steady hand on her shoulder and pushed a small bundle of food into her hand. If looks could kill this doctor was close to murder.

               “Sit. You work hard. You must stay”-he paused searching for words- “Careful.” Seeming satisfied her shooed her off towards the exit and waited until it closed behind her. Satisfied she wouldn’t come running back in he went to find his next subject.

               Mercy begrudgingly stood as the door clicked shut behind her but after a few seconds in the fresh air she was hit with a wave of fatigue. Okay, he might have been right about sitting down. There was a group of women washing bandages for re-use to the left of the door so Mercy want a few feet to the right and ungracefully slid down the wall to sit on the sandy ground. Looking out she could see a handful of people wandering between buildings. Most of the others were by a large warehouse building, perhaps an old grocery store, playing a sport that seemed to change rules every few minutes. She pulled away from reality for a moment watching their game before a sweet smell brought her back. Right, there was food in her hands. She un-wrapped the paper bundle to find some dried fruit, and nuts. The tough fruit took so long to chew that part of her wished she could just inject the dammed things directly into her blood stream and get back to work. The other part of her conscience had started to sound like Fareeha nagging her to calm down for one moment; she took a breath and listened to the pesky Fareeha on her shoulder. Rather than attempt to inhale the small ration, she had become content listening to the gossip of the women beside her.

               The first women was talking animatedly about when her daughter was going through puberty and the weird things kids do when they think their guts are spilling out. “She made it out alive though.” She finished. The other women with a baby tied to her back responded with a hearty chuckle.

               “To bad. Now she just colors her hair all off those ridiculous shades. For someone who used to be so afraid of red she sure can’t get enough of it now.”  To that they both let out a laugh, Angela bit her lip to hold in a small chuckle as well.           

“She is such a good kid though, even with her toughie attitude.”

               They continued chatting jollily about their different kids and neighbors as if they were in a church house rather than a war camp cleaning bloody scraps of fabric. Angela could understand most of what they were saying but there was a still a difference between the Arabic she knew and the rapid Hindi they were speaking. The light started to change as the sun set behind the horizen and Angela was hit with the realization that she had been outside over a half hour. Standing up and stretching out she went to open the door, it was locked. They really were serious about her not sneaking back in. She could probably blame Lucio for that.

               “So they locked you out too?” the one with a child asked, amusement in her voice.

               Angela responded not skipping a beat, “It would appear so. I guess they think I’m working to hard.” She ended with a one-sided smile 

               “Alright, don’t work yourself numb. They only lock out the best ones. Also, the way you speak is different. Where did you get that from?”

               “I’m really just cheating with Arabic.”

               “Well even the best off us do that at times” Countered the other women.

              The both grinned at some shared joke and Angela began trekking around the building to find the main entrance. The doors were in sight when she was stopped once more. “Ya amar!” She turned as a grin split across her face. Fareeha was running towards her, wearing a tank-top and cargo pants, an obvious statement that she was done working for the day. Fareeha finally reached her side and let out a small breath. “Are you going back in or going out?”

             “I’m heading back. They forced me outside but I still need to make sure,” Angela waved off Fareeha as she tried to put a finger on her mouth. “Make sure that all of the. Stop that.”

             “No.” Fareeha said still chasing the dodging face.

             “I need to go checkthelast,” Angela tried her best to finish but Fareeha was faster.

             “Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” She let it last like an uncomfortably large balloon deflating. “I know you’re going to help and check more patients and re-check others and all your doctorly things. I just wanted to tell you that your bedroom is now the second floor of that building.” She pointed to one a block away. “Back right corner after you get to the top of the stairs. If everything is settled in there we want to head out tomorrow at seven. Please go to sleep _before_ then, Okay?”

             “Kay.” Angela muffled back. Fareeha nodded satisfied and lightly flicked Angela’s nose. “You’re not even going to try to stop me while I’m out here?”

              “As if I would actually stop you?” Angela only responded with a flat, guilty smile. “Just try to finish up soon,”-Fareeha went to turn but then remembered something else- “Random other thing. I think there is a 19 year old trying to flirt with me.”

             “Okay then lady killer. I’ll try not to stay out too late if that’s the case.”  Angela said slowly turning the door handle.

             “I don’t know, I brought an extra copy of divorce papers just in case.” Angela couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “I mean when you were 19 you were just a nerd.”

             “Get out of here.” Angela gave Fareeha a playful push, Fareeha just smiled and dropped a kiss on her cheek.

             “Yes ma’am.” With that Fareeha reminded her, again, to get some sleep _before_ tomorrow. Fareeha opened the front door waited for Angela to enter.

             After taking her mind off things she was surprised to see that a sizable chunk of their patents had been treated. Most of what was left were minor broken bones and non-life threatening injuries. “Mercy!” Called the doctor that had locked her out of the building. “Back so soon already?”

 _Soon?_ Angela thought. _That was almost an hour break._ “I guess I am. Who do we have left in critical condition?” Mercy replied trying to hide the fact that she was a workaholic.

             “Deaya took the last major one in fifteen minutes ago. Most of the rest are shrapnel removals and other clean up. Everyone else in this room is just waiting for news on loved ones.” He pointed out her next patient, a middle aged man with an arm in a sling, and walked back to speak to a waiting family.

             Mercy approached the waiting man, his salt and pepper hair contrasting dark skin. “We can finally take you now. Thank you for your patience.”

             He let a bright smile at this and responded, “Yes, I am patient.”

             Mercy froze, she may have lost her parents at a young age but she knew a Dad Joke™ when she heard one. She proceeded to lead the man to the side rooms so she could better look at his arm. It had a few glass pieces sticking out and there was signs of more buried deeper in his forearm. She also suspected that there was a fracture or break in the bone below.  She attempted to start small talk as she began using a portable scanner to get a better look at his bone. “Well sir, it looks like you’ve been jumping out of a few windows recently.”

             “Well it’s not like I’m in the army.” He wiggled shoulder to draw attention to his injured arm.

             “ _Mein Gott_ ,  Fareeha’s lost twin.” Mercy thought as she let out a forced ‘haa-haa’ chuckle. The dad seemed satisfied. The device beeped and verified her suspicions. Three fractures, one by his wrist, the other two in the middle of his forearm, there was also a clear view of the glass pieces that had embedded themselves. After applying some local anesthetic she was able to begin the process of removing the pesky shards. He watched intently as she methodically gathered all the pieces. He looked like he was going to be sick but was also oddly fascinated at the same time. Thirteen shards later he walked out with 52 stitches and a warning to not lift anything with that arm for two weeks. His only words after

             “That was a pain in the glass.”

*********

             Fareeha was getting anxious. It had been over two hours since she had seen Angela outside of the hospital building. She guessed it was around 10 o’clock but in native time that was closer one in the morning. Hana didn’t seem to care at all. She was on a cot by Fareeha’s feet moving virtual aliens around a battle feild. After today they were going to have to leave all of their phones and personal electronics on the ship with Athena since they would be useless out in the field. “Can you stop that?” Hana asked looking up momentarily.

             “Hmm?”

             “Stop bouncing your leg, it’s distracting.” Hana pointed at Fareeha’s leg that was attempting to detach itself from her body. “I’m trying to finish this level before we leave tomorrow; the last save point was soooo long ago.”

             “Sorry.” She sheepishly stilled her leg. Fareeha then tried to distract herself by watching Lena throw pebbles through a hole in the roof. When a pebble missed the target it would gracefully fall back and bounce off Lena’s face before she threw back up again. Everyone else had settled into a meaning full slumber. Except Angela, where is she?

             “Ahhhggg!” Hana stood up and paced around, maybe she had just lost again. She trudged over to Fareeha, “For the love of god! Hold still.” and flopped over her again bouncing knees. Fareeha now trapped had no choice but to suffer in stillness. Hana then began throwing more choice words as her screen flashed ‘Game Over’ once again. Having nothing else to do Fareeha began to absently rub circles on Hana’s back.

             “Did you try going around that ledge?” Fareeha said, still trying to distract herself.

             “If I go that way there is a bunch of mines that take out half of my forces.”

             “Hmmm,” Fareeha hummed. She watched Lena hit herself in the face with another pebble. “Can you set them off by throwing another mine at them?”

             “Maybe…” Hana continued to manipulate her characters setting them around the point. Fareeha could only see half of the screen but she could tell that it worked. At least watching Hana play was something to pass the time. Eventually Hana took out the dungeon and rolled off Fareeha’s knees. She gave a weak fist pump from the floor the proceeded back to her cot. “Just go to sleep. Angela is a strong healthy mom, she can find her way here.”

             “I know,”- Fareeha let out a reluctant yawn – “I just wasn’t expecting her to be this late.”

             “Wasn’t there a patrol group out tonight?”

             “Yeah, but they would have gotten back an hour ago. Why?” Fareeha asked as she slowly was sucked in by the pull of her bed.

             “Maybe they found a problem so she had to stay later. But you need to start leading tomorrow.” She nodded understanding what Hana was saying. She grudgingly became a burrito in her blankets and let sleep take over.

             Fareeha was drifting on the edge of deep sleep when there was a light hand on her shoulder. She made a small grunt as she forced her eyes to open against their sleepy weight. Everyone in the room was dead asleep she rolled over to face Angela’s cot. She was able to make out glowing blonde hair reflecting what little light there was in the room. “Hey.” Fareeha whispered as not to disturb anyone else in the room.

             She watched a tired smile crawl across her wife’s face. “Sorry I’m so late Liebling, I’ll tell you what happened tomorrow. I just wanted you to know I made it back.” She watched as Angela settled herself on top of all the blankets. A few moments passed and Fareeha unraveled a hand from its covers to reach out to Angela. “What?” Fareeha only responded by giving a small wave of her out stretched fingers. Angela caught the message and placed her hand around Fareeha’s.

             “G’night.” Fareeha was already being taken back into sleeps grasp. Angela soon followed allowing her hand to stay with Fareeha’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After this chapter I also plan to only update every 10-14 days since, school and stuff. If only people could make money by writing. Ha, that would be ridiculous.


	4. Day Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for being so late. Excuses will be at the end. :^)

Angela was woken by a gentle shaking. She was greeted by the bright blast of morning sun and the ever persistent heat. Taking a moment to realize where she was she promptly turned over and tried to go back to her shortened slumber.  “Come on, you know that’s not going to work today.” She scrunched her face and attempted to melt away into the pillow. “Hey stop it, I even let you sleep in a bit.” Angela slothfully sat up half way to see that Fareeha was kneeling by her bed dressed in the cargo pants and tank top that had become her mission essential outfit in the past years. Other than Fareeha the only thing in the room was empty cots and a few sets of discarded pajamas. She had always been a heavy sleeper but the fact that everyone had managed to get dressed and leave without disturbing her was pretty impressive. Angela finally got her feet to touch the floor but gravity was stronger than her will to stand.

“MMMmmmmmmmpphhhhhhhh,” Angela fell forward and buried her head into Fareeha’s shoulder, body still refusing to function. “huuunnnfluuumeph?” 

“You’re so cute when you refuse to get up.” Fareeha teased.

“Shut up.” Angela said, the first real words she had constructed so far.

Fareeha just grinned and kissed behind her ear. “Most everyone has had breakfast already. We are going to move into the city in an hour so you need to get moving. I also was able to snag some of this before we ran out.” Fareeha brought a thermos within smelling distance. Angela’s eyes sprung open as she registered the glorious smell of warm coffee. She reached out a hand wishing the warm bottle to come to her. But  Fareeha was cruel and took a few steps away. “You have to get out of bed before I give this to you.”

Similar to the lunar landing Angela frowned then methodically stretched and stood up on the foreign floor. (One small step for coffee, one giant leap for doctor kind.) She moved as fast as someone with four hours of sleep could towards the black elixir of life. Angela mumbled something along the lines of, “Damn time zone differences.” As she stole the thermos from Fareeha’s hand. It was a mediocre instant coffee maybe a solid 4/10. But for now it was enough to help wake Angela from her zombie like state. In the meantime Fareeha had busied herself with finding Angela’s shoes that she had tossed off the previous night. After changing in to a publicly acceptable wear they headed down to the remains of breakfast.

“Did you just leave the Valkyrie at the hospital last night?” Fareeha questioned.

“Wha?” Angela snapped up not quite processing the question.

“You were going to tell me why you had to stay out late.” Fareeha rephrased.

“Oh! Yeah, yeah, after the last patient I had to leave it to be cleaned up. That’s kind of why I was so late last night.” Angela sighed and answered Fareeha’s unasked questions. “The last patrol encountered a mine that was missed in the first sweeps. We had two people in critical that were rushed in suddenly last night.” She dragged a hand across her face and came to rest her elbow on the table. “One had an arm completely gone and the other was burned past recognition. Supposedly they had to leave one person behind since they were in to many pieces to bring back.” Fareeha grimaced at her description. “We were able to stabilize both of them in a reasonable time but the one with burns also had severe nerve damage and may become permanently blind. It’s a trashy way to fight. Leaving traps behind for unsuspecting people while sitting back in safety. And as far as we can tell they are doing it for fun” Angela snarled fully ready to tear into a rant.

They had cut their discussion short as a group of the local soldiers passed by in a rag-tag assortment of gear. Fareeha lightly placed a hand on her arm as a sign to try to relax a bit. “We need to get ready.” She reminded Angela. “Also I put both us on the recon team so you will most likely have first access to any of civilians we find. Hopefully that will reduce any unnecessary loss.” Angela nodded and peeled herself from the bench stealing the last remaining biscuits from the table on her way.

***********

It had been just over a week since they had first arrived. After some shuffling Pharah’s recon team now consisted of five people with prior technology experience, but that’s not the reason  they had been formed. The entire team consisted of free climbers that could scale the buildings in minutes. It was a small detail that would be overlooked at most job interviews, but for this desert it was currently their best weapon. The thing about most the traps is that they prevented one from getting inside a building, if you came in through a window or skylight you had much better chances of disarming a bomb before it disarmed you.  Every few buildings they cleared Bastion would move forward to a new roof in order to keep their defenses as viable as possible. Today, they had moved fast enough that they could get faint radio signals from other teams but nothing was entirely understandable. Twenty buildings out of the thirty in the area had been cleared. Most of which had been empty but they had found around thirty civilians so far.

 “Roof tops, any updates?” Pharah asked over the comm.

“No Captain. Wait,” Pharah froze expecting the worst. “Bastion Is trying to befriend a wasp nest. She better not try too hard since we’re the ones that get stung. ” Rithika finished.

“Alright? Get the next team ready to climb down. We are going for the next building.”

“Yes Captain.” And the comms went silent once more. “Watch out, we are going to have to break some windows for this one.”

The remains of Tracers ground team watched as several of the soldiers jumped across the alleys from one roof to the other and began making their down the sides of the new building.

“Breaking in, now.” There were a few thuds of the soldiers kicking the worn windows then an almost musical shatter as the windows gave way one after another and fell to the ground in glowing pieces. “One grenade set up here, how about the other rooms?” There was more back and forth chatter but so far there was only the one trap. “We are clear Captain, there are about fifteen here.”

“Alright, let’s get these guys out of here. We can probably clear the rest of the buildings in the area before dark.”

“Yes Captain.”  A head count totaled seventeen of the civilians; all of which were relatively young families.  Tracer still hadn’t returned from escorting the last group back to camp but it should be safe to move this one as long as the rest of the team didn’t push out further in the city. After all they had Bastion who could easily defend in any skirmishes, assuming the bees had made it clear they weren’t friendly.

“Roof tops, fall back a few buildings, we will take this group back and then finish with one last push.”  Pharah announced to all remaining soldiers in her area. They should be safe for now; they had only encountered small enemy groups in the last days and Tracer and her group of soldiers should be back soon.

“Copy that captain.”  Rithika’s overly cheerful voice rang through the comms.

“Bee-bee Bwooooo.” Said bastion.

Pharah turned to give more orders but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see their medic focusing intently on some of the data floating across her visor.

“Didn’t we empty that building yesterday?” Mercy mumbled.

“Hmmmm?” Pharah questionably hmmmmed back.

“The two story one. Three blocks over, one down. Look at this.”  She swiped her hand to share the scans with Pharah who then dropped her visor to look at the mass of red heat signatures in the building they had cleaned out days prior. Mercy watched a frown march across Pharah’s face as she considered the reasons for what was happening.

“This, that can’t be right.” Pharah looked at Mercy and then back to her own thoughts. “Why would a group that large move back into the area. We cleared that one, three days ago.” Her body’s natural reaction was to bury her face into her hands and run through every scenario, but the Raptora prevented her from doing so.

“Rooftops, change of plan.” Pharah called into the comm. “We are going to wait on the next group, since we have proof of even more people in another area.” She checked the data again. “Bastion setup in the middle section with two others, I want everyone else on the ground until Tracer gets back.”

“Beee Dooo Dooot.” There was a rattle as Bastion shifted out of the turret form.  “Dweeee Dwooooo?”

“Yes you can pick who comes with you. The rest of you get down here ASAP, this has taken priority.” She began to mentally divide the soldiers and civilians into groups.

“Are you sure Reeha? This seems like, bait.” Mercy inquired. 

Pharah replied looking at Mercy but her eyes not quite focusing as they followed other thoughts. “Maaybe. We won’t until we get there. Are you sure that your scans are correct?”

“You know my sensors are the best here. But even with those I can’t make out the exact number of people in that building the signals are all too close.  We certainly should wait until we can get radio contact with Tracer or one of the other teams before moving in.” Pharah just nodded, backed away from her group on the ground, and boosted herself into the sky.

Pharah didn’t wait to land before she started sending out calls in attempt to reach Tracer or possibly D.Va who was last with another one of the escort teams. “Any Overwatch strike members can you hear me?” Pharah began pacing across the empty rooftop, flipping between different channels in hopes that one of them would hold a stronger signal. It did bug her that 76 insisted on covering wider areas that were just out of communication ranges. It was faster but annoyingly old fashioned. It also didn’t help that his ‘we’re all soldiers now’ attitude was placing too much weight on the small teams of untrained volunteers. Physically they could pull it off for a while but with the limited resources it was an unnecessary risk just to move faster.

A burst of fuzzy speech finally replied after a few minutes of anxious pacing. “I can hear you captain, everything all right there?”

“Tracer, thank god you’re in range. How far out is your group and can you reach anyone else from your position?”

“Ahhh, I could make it back in five minutes easily but the rest of this team is a bit slower. What’s your problem? I have pretty good connection with Winston and D.Va. But yea, what’s you problem again?” Tracer responded her words practically mashing into one solid syllable.

“We have an anomaly more than anything. Can you go ahead of your team to get back up front?”

“No problem; it’s been quiet out here.”

Pharah rolled her shoulders a few times and ran through her different options while also watching bastion and his two picks sitting on the nearby roof. “Have your team meet up with D.Va and have all of them head this way. We are going to be handling a group of thirty plus soon so we will need extra support. But I need you to run out so we can start working again. Try to call any of the other teams closer as well; we might be headed into trouble.”

“Yes ma’am. Gimme a second to coordinate with D.Va and I’ll be on my way.”

Pharah continued to briskly pace around the empty roof tops at a loss of what to do while her team waited. Working against a group known for taking hostages was always hard to plan against. Trying to explain why they would move such a large group into those areas was even harder.

There was a soft fwish that caused her to look up from the dusty roof. “You know there is no such thing as being overly cautious.” Mercys wings tucked back behind her. “But if you going to start pacing keep it closer to the edge so I can get up here sooner. One minute more of that and tracks would have been worn into the cement.”

“Well, at least I don’t bite my nails into oblivion when I’m stressed.” Pharah chirped back.

“No clue who you could be referring to.” Angela said blowing aside the statement and ignoring the quirk of Pharah’s brow. “Where you able to contact anyone yet?”

“Tracer will be here soon, and then D.Va and possibly Winston’s teams will be here after. With the extra support we should be able to hold our current civilians and be able to handle whatever we find in there.”

“Assuming it’s not bait.” Mercy stated bluntly.

“Yep.” Pharah paused and a small breeze began to push around the shimmering heat waves. A larger gust began throwing dust into to air. She suddenly jumped and started blinking furiously. “Ahhh! Shit!”

Mercy could only stare in confusion. Did Pharah get shot? Did she forget to close the garage door? Pharah popped up her golden visor in attempts to reach her face but that was still a hopeless fight. “Reeha?” Mercy questioned not understanding where the sudden burst of energy had come from. Pharah just continued to mumble select words as she tried to blink into next week. Mercy finally walked over to diagnose her situation. Pharah had been critically hit, by an eyelash. “Really Pharah?”

“It stiiiings.” Pharah muttered.

“Come here, _Captain._ Preferably, before you go blind.”

“I sense mockery in that statement.”

“How keen of you.” Pharah sheepishly admitted defeat as she accepted assistance in removing the deadly piece of shrapnel from her eye. Mercy pat Pharah’s armored shoulder, “There’s a slim chance that you’ll live. I also believe there is a change of plan you need inform the others of.”

“Thanks doc. Though, I didn’t know that my insurance covered a peanut gallery.” Mercy just snorted and pushed Pharah’s visor back into place.

Mercy backed towards the edge of the building golden wings beginning to open. “You think that’s bad? I’m married to a peanut gallery.” She stepped towards the edge of the building. From there she could see the faint streak of blue dodging between buildings.

She fearlessly dropped down to meet Tracer on the ground Pharah followed close after. It was only a fraction of a second after they fell that a thunderous blast rang through the air scarring the roof where they had been standing. Everyone froze, and then another shot echoed out. One of the figures standing with bastion crumpled onto the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was fun because I had some strain of the plague that lasted the week and a half before finals. And instead of studying I tried to write while in a sickly state. Most of the delay was me debating whether or not to delete the whole chapter or edit some sense into what sickly me wrote. (I had the five page draft open and guilt tripping me for a month before I was able to get it to where It needed to be.) THEN on top of that I got promoted at work and they we like "Why don't you just work twice as much as usual so we can train you before you transfer to the other location?"
> 
> I was like "Cool thanks for the raise," but also screaming since I was so behind in school.
> 
> But long story short I'm alive, my classes were all passed, and I'm also moving across the state this week. Hopefully I can get some more free time now, to play video games. (You thought I was going to write, HA)


	5. Rubatosis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me sitting in the corner covered in fruit snack wrappers and looking like Tracer the actual hedgehog™. "What do you mean it's June already?!"

Her heart was pulsing at triple speed before landing.

She turned agonizingly slow as the world began to spin past as she fell.

Bu-bum.

Bu-bum. Bu-bum.

Bu-bum. Bu-bum.bu-bum.bubumbubum.

     The bullet had ripped straight through her. In through her back, out through the front leaving nothing behind as it tore through the soft tissue of everything keeping her alive. It was such a long fall to the roof she was standing on, yet the landing didn’t hurt.

Nothing did. Or did everything.

     Everything was blurring surely someone was talking, yelling maybe. The microphone in her ear fell out and skittered across the roof. The only thing she could hear was the ringing and pulsing of her own body failing her. She lifted a shaking hand and could barely focus enough to make out the shade of red covering it and spreading across the building.

     This is not how she imagined the day would go that’s for sure. Someone was moving her, dragging her, pretty sure that hurt a bit. Then she was falling again, further than before. More like they were both falling. Falling off the rooftops down into the dusty streets below.

Bu-Bum.

*******

     Pharah whole body tensed up as all instincts began to kick in. Bastion was furiously trying to hold position against the wave of oncoming soldiers but was being forced to move back from the exposed area. How were they not able to see the heat signs from an oncoming enemy group as large as this?  Treach the soldier that had taken the opening shot. Pharah reached out and was barely able to grab Mercy’s collar before she launched herself into the sniper’s sight.

     “What are you doing?!” Mercy snapped.

     “You can’t rush to save one person and risk your own head!” Pharah yelled as bullets from both sides began to crack into the buildings.

     “Sniper located. I can get to them but it’s not going to be easy.” Tracer’s voice called out.

      “I only have seconds before we lose her and I’m not taking the stairs to get up there.” Mercy struggled to free herself from the iron grasp. But Pharah only set her jaw in a firm unforgiving line.

     “I know that”- She growled back- “You need to wait. We. Can. Not. Lose our only medic.” Mercy stared up at the roofs her eyes burning into the flashing symbols on her visor showing the life of a young civilian live slipping away.

     “They have back up here but I can get them out of here soon.” Tracer’s interrupted accompanied by the rapid pulsing of her pistols.

     Pharah new time was already too short. “Bastion retreat into the building and keep firing once you have adequate cover. Ian, I need you to jump.”

     “Wait, Captain are you sure?” Ian stammered back.

     “Don’t question me, grab Rithika and jump off the roof now! I need your trust." Pharah called back. Mercy looked ready to tear an arm off when Pharah finally let go of her collar.

     “I have her Captain," Ian responded with a few soft prayers’ barely being picked up by the mic as well.

     Pharah saw their dark forms reaching the edge but still couldn’t risk moving. “Tracer, what’s happening up there?” She was too aware of the time limit she had created. Ian and Rithika tumbled off the edge; he was trying his best to not let her hit the side of the building. Pharah watched them fall, each window they passed was another second wasted.

     “The sniper is out! Go!” Pharah launched herself to the falling pair the initial boost didn’t take her far enough. If she clenched her jaw any tighter multiple teeth would have begun to crack. She connected with the falling pair and wrapped her arms around both of them. Her jets struggled to push against the combined weight. Their downwards descent was slowed but they were still falling fast. They hit the ground, or at least Pharah hit the ground hard enough that her prosthetics made painful grinding sounds of disapproval as she was forced to her knees. A few red warnings flared up in her vision relaying damage to different joints and sensors but none of that was important.

     “I got her for you! Now get away from the front line.” Pharah didn’t hesitate before jumping back to the skies where she could fire into the attacking forces and knocking flankers away when they tried to take the advantage. The world was slow; she picked her targets and removed them one by one. From the skies she could see everything. Commands rolled to different groups so they could prepare for what was headed their way. From above even Tracer slowed down. Pharah’s heartbeat was steady, thrumming in her ears as she ruled. They skies were her domain; her team would not fall when she was on guard. But even with the methodical blasts that she sent out they would still be overwhelmed soon.

    The way the supposed mafia fought was too organized, too skilled. There is no way in hell that they were a gang of young misguided individuals. A warning flashed, her fuel was running low she had to drop back into the city and wait for her suit to compress and alter the very oxygen in the air. She landed lightly by Mercy who was still frantically working with Rithika.

     “Is she good?” Pharah asked momentarily kneeling by the working medic. No Response. “Mercy?” Pharah almost had to yell to be heard over the echoing ricochets.

     “She should be fine, for now.” Mercy responded with a hard edge. “She won’t wake up for a few hours.” Unable to tell if it came from her focus of manipulating the golden waves or the fact that she was still mad about not getting to work sooner. Pharah apologized to be on the safe side and backed away. “ _Verdammt,_ _dammt_ _,_ _dammt_ _._ ” Mercy muttered and repeated it as more and more alerts and critical signs flared up around her.  “Do we have any other supports yet or is it just me?”

     “It’s just you still.” Pharah checked the fuel gauge; it had just passed the three-quarters mark.

     Mercy’s frown grew deeper. “This will have to be good enough. Ian, stay with her until we get reinforcements.” He nodded still in a state of shock and went to guard the opening of the alleyway. Mercy spun to look at Pharah. “I need to be two blocks west yesterday.”

     Pharah nodded and glanced one last time at the barely breathing form on the ground. “Hang on.” Mercy tethered herself to Pharah with the blue stream of her caduceus. They were both thrown into the air. A few of the soldiers had taken notice to the threat of the skies and began firing towards the pair. A few lucky bullets pinged off her armor as she subconsciously placed herself between the medic and ground. “Get ready to fall. I’ll hold off anyone targeting you.”

     Mercy dropped like a stone trusting Pharah to stay true to her word.  For the seconds now, she planned: which person to heal first, how many injuries could she coach another person to tend to, best spot to avoid getting shot. The bullets that whizzed past w The systems began outline targets in red and passed the info to her protector above.

    “On your left,” Pharah stated.

     Without hesitation Mercy spun, watching as several rockets sped past where she had just been. She had finally dropped below the buildings and began to slow her descent. "Wasn't that a bit close?" Mercy chided. There was silence. She touched the ground and immediately began working on the first soldier. Mercy threw her hands over her head as a concussive blast sounded off meters behind her. Turning around she saw two unconscious enemy soldiers.

     “That one, maybe?”

     “Mine gott.” Mercy mumbled.

     Pharah attempted to offer advice, her voice contradicting to the sporadic flight paths she was taking. “You could always be a dentist; I hear they get paid great. Lots of time off.”

     “Don’t you dare get me started on that.” Mercy moved on to the next person, they had fallen unconscious behind the makeshift barricade.

     “Can you just imagine all the free toothpaste!?”

     “Can someone please shoot you?”

     Another loud blast signaled that Pharah had jumped higher into the sky. “They sure are trying.” Pharah paused and returned without the playful tone. “You have a flanker behind; I can’t get to them without hitting someone else. Lucio is almost here along with D.vas team. Hold for a second.” Mercy’s screen showed a red outline creeping behind the building.

     Mercy stood against the wall, the flanker came running out behind to be met with the unforgiving end of the staff. Thrown off guard Mercy fired the deciding shots, it wasn’t long before they crumpled into the ground. Seconds turned into minutes as she bounced between the injured. The radios went silent as everyone focused on the task ahead. She barely noticed a green streak wiz past the wall. D.va had arrived shotguns never stopping as she took to defending. “A little help.” D.vas voice took her out of the world she had been stuck in.

     “I’ve got you.” Mercy aimed towards having the nanites repair the crumbling mech. As the battle progressed Mercy found herself following the teammates she was so familiar with. Mostly because they were the aggressive ones, forcing back enemies, dancing through enemy lines, and you know, getting shot at. She watched as Lucio and D.va charge into a mob. D. va tearing apart the formations as she fired and ran into groups with her mech. Lucio switching between healing and speed as he bounced and picked off the lingering soldiers. But then they began to separate. Lucio pushing too far into the crowd as he leaped between walls and flipped over obstacles, he was always a little, extra.

     “Dammit.” D.vas mech began to crumple like an unsupported soda can. “NERF THIS.” Everyone scattered as the unpiloted flaming machine hurdled off.

     Mercy called out to the soldiers on her side knowing what was going to happen next. “GET DOWN!” Everyone dropped as the explosion sent out a shockwave destroying anything and anyone around it.

     “Oh, hey mom.” Hana had materialized at Mercy’s side casually entering information into her armband.

     “That was awesome.” Said Lucio from Mercy’s other side. Their hands crossed in front of Mercy meeting in a high-five.

     Mercy’s mom senses were through the roof. “Do you have any clue how reckless that was?!”

     Both Lucio and D.va laughed. “Yeah.”

     Their small victory was short lived. 76 broke the news that multiple vehicles were still headed this was the ongoing crackle of gunfire obvious behind his voice. Only then did they realize how far they had drifted from the main battle. Lucio was the first to address the remaining soldiers. "Alright we have a new meeting spot, stay close to me and let's hop to it!" All those that could followed Lucio as he began speeding them off, some went wholeheartedly, but others stared into the distance with empty eyThat was almost more painful to watch than the battle. 

     D.Va’s new mech arrived with a clunk. She asked Mercy as she clambered into the tall machine, “Do you need help with these guys?” The mech gestured to a pair of figures on the ground.

     “If you wouldn’t mind.” Mercy watched as she gently lifted and placed both of them on the top of the pink mech. They hurried back to the main defensive group that had formed. All of the Overwatch members had taken to the front line while the local soldiers defended the injured and civilians. There was little time to rest the approaching vehicles had already started to fire in the streets hoping for a lucky hit. Mercy didn’t watch were D.Va placed the injured soldiers she had already launched herself into the sky to intercept Pharah.

     From this distance she could already see blood contrasting against the blue armor. Mercy watched the diagnosis flash up in her halo screen. “Pharah, please get over here before you pass out.” After a few moments Pharah landed on a rooftop.

     “Did you say something?”

     Mercy began healing the multiple wounds that were hidden under the armor. She wiped a hand across the front plate and displayed the red hand.  “Did you drop something?” The look of surprise on Pharah’s face caused Mercy to roll her eyes. “How do you not notice that you’ve been hit?”

     “I was distracted.” Another round of machine gun fire tore across the streets. They both ducked to avoid the shrapnel.

     “Seems like a great excuse if you want to end up dying.”  Pharah didn’t respond instead she crawled back to the ledge to look over the incoming vehicles. She motioned for Angela to follow.

     “Have you noticed anything about the people we have been fighting lately?” Pharah asked. “Supposedly we were weeding out gang and rouge militia, but look at those vehicles. There is no way that could be stolen. The other technology we just assumed but now I’m thinking we were very wrong.”

     “Why would a military be attacking here?” Angela’s eyes narrowed. 

     Pharah sighed. “I don’t know how I didn’t notice it sooner but they were never really attacking. They were corralling. Most of the traps were set as a way to keep people in. The only injuries were from those who were resisting and trying to escape.”

     The Vans had almost reached the edge of the city and people had begun exiting the vehicles and running into the streets. “Mein gott, these ones are even in uniform.” Mercy pointed out.

     Pharah gave an angry hum, “Dammit, we can’t hold this position with these people.” She turned on her com to the entire team. “We need to get all civilians and all injured out of here immediately. Lucio and D.va take everyone back and begin breaking camp. This is a stronger army than we were led to believe and I’m not risking losing more people.”

     Jack was the first one to respond. “I’m with you Amari, we need to move civilians immediately. Keep stalling for us.” Pharah stood ready to begin her attack but was interrupted by one last voice.

     “What about the other building? There were still people back there.” It was one of the local team captains. Pharah grimaced, she had forgotten about the building that had started this.

     “Save who you can now.” That was the last thing Pharah could say.

     The approaching army seemed to have gotten word of the air threat. It wasn't long before the pair entered a hail storm of counter fire. For now, they were dancing through the tempest. Mercy switched between damage and healing while following behind Pharah, who was twisting and flying as unpredictable as possible. There were times where they would both go into a dead drop to avoid a heavier artillery shell that sang past. There was no time to process the callouts that others were giving, only time to react. Pharah dropped to the ground with an empty fuel tank. Mercy took that time to run between the lines and heal others.

     The radio crackled as D.Va began to hit the end of the range. “We are nearly out of the city and will be safe. You guys better make it back to.”

     “Don’t worry about us Hana. We’ll be back before you notice.” Mercy responded hoping it wasn’t a lie.

     “Let’s go.” Pharah was already running down an alley to get behind an enemy group. Mercy followed as she took to the sky again. “We still have more vehicles headed this way. Watch yourselves. From the air they could watch the battles below. Tracer seemed to be in three places at once as she made dizzying patterns of blue around groups. Winston followed her suit as he bounded between buildings and finished off what Tracer started. But watching was a dangerous distraction. Gunfire pulsed around the entire city creating an irregular heartbeat. They were able to take out one of the vans with ease but there were now guns pointed to the air at all times. Pharah was missing more shots than before since she now had to defend as well. She took another hit that made its way past her armor, a yelp of pain escaped.

     “Fareeha are you okay?!” Mercy cried out.

     They fell into the streets. “Sure yeah. Yeah, good. Fine, Fine, Fine.” Pharah was cradling a new spot where the bullet had ripped a whole in her chest. She sank to the ground.

     “Hold still amar. It’s not a clean wound.” Mercy pried off a sheet of armor to reveal Pharah’s abdomen. A large piece of shrapnel was calling Pharah’s abdomen its new home. Mercy placed a hand on the area to the side and got the other ready to pull out the betraying piece of twisted armor. “Sorry.” Mercy turned her head to cover Pharah’s mouth with a distracting kiss, then ripped the piece out. Pharah's face contorted as Mercy began pressing her weight on the open wound waiting for the final scans. Pharah’s chest was heaving up and down as her breathing sped up. “I’m almost done amar. Please, try to hold still.” The scan was almost complete Pharah’s heart rate was beginning to drop after its initial spike. The screen finally filled with an image of the bullet still lingering. ‘ _Dammit_.’ Mercy thought to herself. She pulled a thin pair of pliers from her kit and followed the graphic on her screen to get the remaining shard.

     “I swear I’m trying not to bleed today.” Pharah sputtered.

    “Shut up. If you go unconscious I will kill you.” Mercy was able to get a grip on the trapped bullet. She pulled it out and threw it to the side, another groan escaped Pharah. Her screen lit up, the wound was clean and she began flooding it with nanites. She watched Pharah's breathing and heart rate finally stabilized, and the wound began to stich its self together. It would still take a minute for all the internal damage to right itself. Mercy took a deep breath and sat back on her heels. “Why are you always so bad at being a patient?” Mercy pushed her bangs back up while wiping away sweat.

     Pharah gave a weak smile, “To impatient to be a patient.” They both sat for a few moments catching their breath before Pharah began to move to sit up fully.

     “You’re really going to go already?”

     “It’s not like we can go anywhere until we get rid of these guys.” Pharah finally stood and winced her hand supporting her chest again. “Are you going to come with me.” She held out her other hand to Mercy.

     “I'm not sure why I even bother.” Mercy took her hand and stood. “Just don’t break any teeth today.”

     Pharah grinned and pulled her closer. “I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

     Mercy buried her head into the crook of Pharah’s neck and they held each other for as long as each second would allow. Pharah moved to return the armor plate back to her suit, ignoring the fist sized hole. Finally acknowledging the voices over the radio Mercy called out that they were both alive still.

     “OYE, the birds are safe!” Tracer called out to the group, a few cheers rising up. “Everyone group back up so we can give these bastards a real push.” Once grouped the ground forces began making their way towards the enemies breaking from their defensive tactics. Minutes passed and it seemed like they finally had the upper hand. Suddenly a loud burst of radio static hit everyone.

     “This is what they were doing before. Stay together or we won’t be able to hear anything over the interference.”  76 called out to all of the fighters. “Don’t let this become a distraction.”

     “Can you make out what they’re saying down there?” Mercy asked.

     "No, this has to be what 76 was so concerned about before. Some type of high-grade radio jamming. Mercy can you see any hot spots or radio towers set up by the vans?” Pharah also began searching the outskirts to locate the source. While still dodging the hailstorm that followed them.

     Interesting things always happen in times of stress and high adrenaline. One effect is the fight or flight response. Another is that time seems to slow down. It would be ridiculous for time to actually slow down what really happens is your brain begins to process at a much higher rate than normal. Taking in every sound, every smell, every sight at a higher rate you begin to feel time slow. Mercy saw what had to be the source of the jamming. “Pharah! It has to be that van. Multiple people holding still and plenty of heat from a non-human source.” But Pharah responded differently.

     "Watch out!" Pharah tackled Mercy to a rooftop as a huge artillery shell swam past. The roof shook when it hit the ground in the center of their group below. Skulls began to blink into Mercy's screen as every member of their team died. The seconds were dragging along as Mercy squirmed out of Pharah’s grip and ran to the edge. She had less than ten seconds to repair their bodies before they left this existence entirely. She fell for hours; each window passing by was a reminder that she was still too high to reach them. The ground finally reached her, wings shot out and staff hit the ground.

     The earth was encased in a cloud of gold, Mercy’s staff and spine burning as they worked to generate enough nanites to instantly repair the damage of several people. It was painful as it was exhilarating her body glowing gold as it pushed off wave after wave of the healing machines. She could watch as the breath returned to bodies and eyes fluttered open. A world encased in gold was hard to maintain. The implants down her back were creating an inferno she was forced to stop, all of her weight falling into her staff, then to her knees. All she could hear was her heartbeat reverberating across her skull and every breath was heavily scratching at her ears.

     “Angela! Are you okay?”

     “Did I get everyone?” She asked dizzily.

     “They’re all here, but you’re burning up.” Pharah’s voice was filled with worry. Mercy opened her eyes blinking away the dots that swam in her vision.

     “I’m fine if they are.”

     “That’s not really how that works.”  Angela gave a hollow laugh and looked up at Pharah, her eyes still burning gold. That’s something that had really spooked Pharah the first time she saw it.

     “Don’t tell me what works, I’m the doctor here.”

     “You’re a doctor that’s running a three hundred degree fever. I think I’m allowed to give some advice.”

     “Debatable.” Mercy’s head still felt like it was being hit with a jackhammer.

     “Whatever. I’m going to try to hit that van since we have the advantage for now. Do not move from here.”  Mercy blinked and Pharah was gone. Another blink and she watched the team push up another few meters. Resurrecting always had weird side effects, it was like the world was lagging behind her reality. Looking at her screen she could see a golden aura on each of her teammates. It would take a few solid hits before that wore off. A persistent nagging swam to the front of her thoughts. They had the advantage, now was the time to move to the other building. They could move the civilians since they had pushed up the entire street.

      She stood and her vision blurred. A stray bullet pierced her boot. There was no pain and it healed immediately with a puff of gold. Mercy knew as well as a drunkard what she had to do now. Striding through the streets she headed to the building, her team was safe and so these people will be too. Nanites were invincible and so was she. The building came into range one blink at a time. Through the windows she could make out the forms of the people inside.

     “Mercy, where are you?!” Pharah cried into a disconnecting signal.

 _Why would they interrupt me?_ She thought “I have to get the others.”

     Pharah was terrified. _Mercy is still flooded with_ _nanites, she’s not thinking straight._ “ANGELA, DO NOT GO IN THERE ALONE. We don’t know what they have set up. Please. PLEASE do not move until someone else gets there to help.”

     “I’m here to help don’t worry.” Angela's voice cracked back.

     “ANGELA………… Wai…….an’t go……………………………don’t mov..” The radio was so choppy at this point barley anything was comprehensible. _It's fine, we can save them._   Angela opened the door a bell jingled above her. The room was full of people. Wait no, manikins? _That can’t be right my scanners were showing body heat_. She turned off the blue screen and looked into the room. Empty just manikins covered in wiring. _What kind of person would take all the time to do this?_ Mercy stepped further into the shop to inspect the wiring suddenly she felt the jerk across her shin. Mercy looked down at the wire spanning the room _. This isn’t right_ _._ A wave of clarity shot through her.

     “Fareeha I’……………..y. I’m…………… sorry.” The building shifted all at once, a giant fireball belching into the sky. The roof shattered. “Sorry…….” The rest of the signal was filled with static and the sounds of the crumbling building.

      Pharah spun around to watch a magnificent fireball launch into the sky. “No. no, no no. Angela are you there? Angela!” Pharah began striding towards the enemy ready to take down every last one.

     Tracer was first to realize what was happening and latched herself onto Pharah. “Don’t bloody go up there.” Pharah stomped down her path dragging tracer with her. “We can’t lose you too. Fareeha Stop!” Tracer begged.

     “ I let this happen. I should have been watching her still.” Pharah pushed the smaller women off. “Leave. Get everyone out of here. I’ll stall while you make the retreat D.Va should have broken camp by now so you can get everyone to safety.”

     “Everyone doesn’t count if you’re not there you idiot.” Tracer was trying her best to rationalize but Pharah wouldn’t budge.

     “They aren’t going to stop Lena!” Pharah’s voice was cracking. “The civilians are safe, that’s the mission, and this isn’t a fight we need to win. I’ll stall but all of you run.”- Pharah flicked her radio off- “Go back to Emily.” And launched herself into the air ignoring the desperate pleading from below.

      “We have to leave.” Tracer stated to the group. “We lost the birds and there’s only more on the way.” Lena moved her goggles to wipe at the forming tears. “Our civilians are safe so we need to get there too.”

     "Pharah's still out there we can't just leave the kid out here," McCree complained.

     “She’s gone bloody mad! Turned her radio off and is stalling for us to leave. If we don’t take this chance she dies for nothing and we aren’t making it out of here.” Tracer watched as everyone the information dawned on everybody. “I’m going, you all better follow since I’m flying all of the innocent out as soon as I get to camp. Tracer turned and walked away hoping the others were brave enough to follow.

     From above she ruled.  Pharah watched as her team below trickled away. They were hesitant at first, firing a few shots and backing away. But eventually they were gone. When she was alone she could take any evasive maneuvers necessary. It didn’t matter where she fired since she couldn’t injure her own team. Some of the damaged building could be knocked over, she could fly low to the ground and ram into those that were trying to hit her. She only needed to stall for a few minutes and everyone would be safe. With the radio silence, she could listen to the few albums downloaded in her helmet. _Angela loves this band._ A few more minutes, then a few more seconds here. The entire opposing army was now focused on her. The fuel tank was nearly empty but there wasn’t any more time to wait for it to compress more.

      Pharah had made this choice already. The majority of the attackers had grouped up. Perfect. A deep breath and she boosted up one more time. Time froze and Pharah released a storm of every last rocket she had stored. A scream of every emotion tore from her as the rockets pounded into the group. Eventually, her ammunition ran dry and a few men still remained on the ground. There was a click as something attached itself to her front. She looked down in time to see they mine explode she was shoved through the air. Spinning like a toy barely able to keep her eyes open, she used what little gas she had left to attempt to control the fall. A wing clipped a building and snapped off she spun into the next alley and headed directly towards the steep wall.   _Angela loved this song._ She struck the wall and didn’t feel when she hit the ground.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry. ( I would love to talk to whoever is here, please leave a comment. (I have plans, muhahaha)) Edit 12/8: Apparently half of last paragraph got cut out and no one told me it was weird?! So I fixed that 6 months after the fact. Now theres context of how, you know Fareeha was shot out of the sky. Man Im sad it took me this long to notice.


	6. Grounded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the title becomes relevant and Fareeha is dramatic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I posted early since I didn't want to leave you guys hanging for too long. (Because its rood to kill the main characters.)

  

_‘Ouch.’_

_‘Or is it the heat.’_

_‘Heat or the pain.’_

_‘Whatever just take a deep breath, in and’_

_‘OW GOD ITS PAIN, it's pain, pain it’s pain. Shallow breath. In ow. out ow. In. Ow no too Much. Why is it so hot, Fareeha you should move. Mooooove. Nanites. There are nine. Nine syringes of emergency nanites under the side plate. Fareeha! move something already.’_

     The heat was stronger than any of her muscles, each breath was excruciating. There was still that persistent sizzling noise. ‘ _Am I cooking, is that possible for humans to sizzle?’_ Even in her delirium a sadistic smile crept into view. ‘ _Why wouldn't I sizzle? You can't contain this much of a smoking hot captain in a metal suit.’_

     Fareeha’s mind betrayed her as what started as a small laugh turned into thousands of knives blasting through her chest. The pain caused her to cough, each cough required more air than she could provide leading to more coughing, then eventually gagging. The pressure on her body was unbearable as she flipped onto her hands and knees. Wheezing through the pain and taking every last ounce of energy not to cough and waste any of the air she had managed to catch. Finally, she was back breathing as shallow as possible with lightheadedness creeping in. A small whimper escaped her.

     Fareeha glanced down at the remains of the Raptora. The entire chest plate had blown off barely leaving any of the fabric of her undergarment. ‘ _Okay eyes are open now, this is good. This is good, not dead yet_ _.’_ She watched several drops of sweat fall into the dirt bellow before being reminded of the annoying sizzle sound.

     Radio. It was the broken comm line relaying nothing but static. Fareeha deliberately shifted to a sitting position against the wall trying to not aggravate her wounds any further. Finally, both hands were free enough to pull off the cracked helmet and drop it to the ground.

 _‘Good. Silence. Finally. Good, good.’_ Fareeha mentally repeated these as removing the helmet had been utterly exhausting. ‘ _Nanites_.’

     All of her armor from the waist down was still intact. She flipped open one of the plates just under her hip. Inside was lit by a faint golden glow. Not waiting any longer she took two of the chapstick sized containers and broke them against her chest. The glass dissolved into her skin as the golden glow marched its way across the bruised areas, which she assumed to be her entire body. There were loud pops as several of her ribs snapped back together. That was never a comfortable feeling. As the glow traveled Fareeha was able to take her first of many deep breaths, pulling in greedy amounts of air. The Nanites stopped too soon and the pain returned. She hungrily hunted for another container of the nanites to extinguish the remaining pain. Her fingers met air.

     Fareeha sat up to better peek into the storage area, all she could see was glass shards. She less than willingly set to the task of manually removing the remainders of her armor, having to start at the shoulders and work her way down. Finally prying off the main thigh plate she was better able to look at the supplies tucked behind. Two of the containers had broken; one of the remaining five was half empty. Not willing to risk losing more Fareeha took the remainder of the broken container and hoped to save the rest. But now with a head cleared from the pain she truly began to take in her surroundings.

     One mostly full water canteen, a handful if protein bars, and a broken useless radio. Fareeha stood up on unwilling legs and began to pace around testing to see if her prosthetics would still function. If the piston in her left knee had broken before it was decimated now. (Unless limps were now in fashion that’s not something she could put off.) The city was so eerily silent that she almost would have preferred to listen to static. There really was only one thing Fareeha could do at this point. She walked to the wall she had become so attached to in the last hour. She placed a hand on the warm bricks.

     "Fuck." She began thumping her forehead against the wall. "Why are you so stupid. Dammit." She proceeded to ram into the building, strings of curses from every language pouring out of her.

     “Why did we do that?” She critically asked the lifeless helmet while pacing on a limp leg. "Where do we even go? Hopefully they left camp safely, and have counted me for dead. Isn’t that a lovely thought?" It didn't respond to the angry sarcasm.

     "MmmmHhhhhhhhggggHHHHH!" She crumpled into a ball in the middle of the deserted street with her face buried in her hands. "Did I honestly believe I could take on an entire army!? Why the hell did I go back in the air after they had started targeting me?" She was losing her temper at the helmet. Echoes of her shouts began to fill the empty streets. "You knew it was unsafe but you’re always so reckless when it comes to protecting others. Can't you think for yourself for once?! You stupid fucking soldier, can you even imagine what Angela would say when she finds out what you d....."

     "Angela." Fareeha stomach sank. "Oh, god Angela's, she, she." An eerie calm came over her as she rolled onto her back. "We need to leave now.”-She glanced at the helmet.- “No one else knows which way he was headed but me. If she’s even still alive then…"

      Finally filled with energy Fareeha began to strip the remains of the Raptora. Some of the mechanical components were compatible with her repairing her legs, if she could find a screwdriver. For now she will just have to lock it in place and peg leg.  Other than that there were two pouches filled with food, water, and the few precious nanite containers.

     "Where am I?" She mumbled to herself. The sun had set but the moon was bright tonight. Fareeha followed the skid marks left from her fall, pointing to the sky as she tried to retrace her fall. "We were just over a thousand feet right? With the initial force of the small blast that would have pushed us ahhh, block and a half-ish?" She tied the helmet into her belt want to be belt. “Then falling we would have taken the same general path, so there. We got right around there.” She closed her eyes trying to visualize a map of the area. She did a quarter turn. "If that's North..." She paused and turned again. “This better be it.”

     She ran as fast as her leg would allow, having to lean haphazardly to one side. The night had brought the temperatures down enough that the heat was bearable but her ribs began to complain and scream again. _‘I can't stop now. Please. She's going to be worse than you_ _. Keep going. Keep going. You cannot stop.’_ Fareeha continued to plead with her body pushing aside its every call to reason. Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Right. She didn't notice the loose gravel until it was already underneath her. One foot slid too far back and she lost her balance ramming into the edge of wall. Finally stumbling to a stop she leaned into one if the buildings wheezing. Maybe resting for a minute is a better idea.

     Fareeha stood doubled over for much longer than she would have preferred. Arms hugging her aching stomach as she tried to keep its contents in one place. She realized the air had the acidic smoky smell that followed war. "We have to be close now." She mumbled. Fareeha began to walk closer inspecting the buildings around her. There were more obvious signs of fighting here. Holes were bullets had torn through with hungry greed, discarded weapons that had been damaged or run out of ammunition. There were no bodies, but that’s not really something she wanted to stumble into today.

_‘Two story building, that's all I need to find. It has to be close. It has to be here somewhere.’_

     She rounded a corner, then another, and another. Circling around Fareeha was only becoming more and more irritated. She began tapping her knuckles against the scuffed blue helmet on her side. "Could I be wrong? Was I higher when I got hit so I'm still off by a few blocks." She let out a sharp breath and closed her eyes, again talking to no one. "No, I can't be off by much. If anything, I was lower since the fuel tank had already been damaged!" Fareeha’s eyes snapped open. "Why didn’t you remind me of that? We already missed her!" If helmets could shrug it would have.

     She ran again this time with new hope backtracking to find where she had been hours prior. Two story building. Two story building. There. Maybe. She crept closer to the crumbled shop. This has to be it. The smallest building here. Or at least what's left of one. _You don't have to go in, Angela, she might be gone already_. A small voice chanted a warning in the back of her mind. _I have to make sure, I can’t leave her._ The moon was just past the mid-way point of its arc. She began to climb into the rubble The smell of the building was unbearable Fareeha refused to think why.

     "Angela are you here?" She called out knowing the likelihood of an answer was slim. _‘Please, you have to be here.’_ Almost losing her footing for the umpteenth time she backtracked to try to find another entrance. She approached what seemed to be the front. The faded sign displaying a family name for the business. It was a small fabric store which had most likely had the family apartment above. The front wall mockingly intact still, the door was well oiled and didn't even squeal when she opened it.

     "Hello?" Silence. Like the front wall, the first twenty feet of the store seemed untouched. A display of brightly colored shirts were fighting against the dust. The scenery didn't last forever though. A few more steps and the roof and floor intermingled. One could see through the rest of the walls, suddenly a glint stole her attention. The golden halo lying on the floor was more persuasion than she needed. In a flash Fareeha dropped to the floor and started digging around it. Unfortunately it was unattached to the owner but,

     "Please don't be broken I need you more than ever right now." Fareeha scrabbled to put the halo on and generate the visor. The blue screen was cracked with only half of the screen showing data and scans "YES, YES, thank you! She jumped and began scanning the room. It first pulled up her information. Fareeha Amari: multiple rib fractures. 250mil nanites advised. ‘Not so good, but good!’ Slowly she was able to cover the building one sweep after another, the halo occasionally shocking her temples as the wiring signal. There was a source of heat, barely enough to signify another person.

     She tore at the rubble, the person hadn't been buried deep and she could already distinguish parts of the once white Valkyrie. It wasn't long before she had uncovered the top half of the figure. The halo had finally identified her lying face down. Angela Ziegler: Critical (Leg, Multiple vertebrae), Severe blood loss. Low blood pressure… The list ran into the blackened portion of the screen. Angela's name and every other reading was in red, sign enough that Fareeha needed to work fast. The list flowed back into view and finally reached a recommendation. 17,000mil nanites required. Critical, action needed.

     "That’s enough for now," Fareeha turned off the halo screen, the number of warnings becoming disorientating as she continued to dig. "I thought you told me that 15,000 meant the person was already dead." Fareeha came to a support beam that had fallen over Angela. She began trying to force it up. "You're truly amazing, you know that right." She grunted trying to push something under the beam to hold it up. “Most people would die being crushed by a building. Buut nooo,” The bar Fareeha had been using as a jack suddenly bent causing the beam to shift. Momentarily freezing in fear Fareeha struggled to find another support since her leg was now the only thing holding the beam. “Maybe it’s all the chocolate.”  She continued mumbling,

     She slowly moved the weight rest fully on a sliver if wood. It didn't immediately crack or bow outwards. Satisfied Fareeha dropped and found a hold on Angela's collar. From there she could finally pull her out from under the trap. Pulling Angela to the stable front of the store Fareeha leaned in to listen to her breathing. It was faint but still steady enough to signify life. She left a small kiss on Angela's temple, "Just keep doing that for me, alright?"

     The moon had sunk enough that the buildings had begun blocking its light. The small light on the side of her Raptora helmet had been in damaged but still cast a weak beam. Fareeha again donned the halo to inspect her fallen angel. Now she could really see the injuries that were cut off by the black screen before. Multiple cuts that had made it through her light armor, but worst of all her back was disconnected. The alloyed metal spine that Fareeha had grown so used to had been cracked. Without the implant Angela couldn't generate any Nanites. Just thinking about how much damage that could have been done to her spine as the implant broke made Fareeha queasy.

     Fareeha took her remaining containers of nanites and lifted them to the halos view. It scanned to containers and began highlighting the areas that they would be most effective. It also warned that Angela's leg needed to be repositioned so that the bone would heal straight. Fareeha went to work. _‘Just like the field training in Egypt, reposition, set a splint. Your fine. Your fine.’_ She broke the first container onto Angela's leg. Then two on her lower back.

      The glow was even brighter when watching through the halos visor. It could track every microscopic machine as it traveled and repaired damaged cells or stimulated the growth of new cells. A timer started counting, signifying when that dose would run its course and it would be safe to add more. Just under two minutes. Now Fareeha could look around more. She popped the light out of her helmet and ducked into the space where Mercy had been trapped. She found the caduceus staff immediately, or at least most of it. She pulled out the twisted remains of the staff and began prying open all of the slim compartments. Typically Angela would keep more containers of Nanites in here. Most had been crushed already but one remained unharmed. There have been better days in terms of supplies.

     The timer was reaching the end. Fareeha waited for a new scan and the highlights of where to break the next containers. The last two were broken and the glow had subdued. The halo still gave plenty of bad signs but Angela's name had gone from dark red to a yellow, stabilized. The recommend dose had dropped drastically 8,000mil, which was surprisingly low. That could only mean that her spinal implant was still struggling to work. Knowing Angela was stable for now exhaustion began replacing adrenalin Fareeha fell beside Angela. "We can do this okay. I'm not going to leave you." She longingly kissed the angel’s forehead then moved to her cheek, “Just don’t leave me.” The sun had started crawling out but Fareeha didn't notice, the dirty floor was the most enticing bed she had been on in months.

*******

     Fareeha was once again rudely awakened by the heat. The sun had reached its peak leaving no shadows. The first thing she noticed was the silence, the ever so present silence. Even bugs were smart enough to not live here. She sat up and glanced over at Angela who had yet to move. Her entire face caked in all sorts of dirt and grime, even her blonde hair struggled to show through. Fareeha tapped her shoulder in hopes that she would wake up. Nothing. Fareeha sighed, "Can't you just talk to me for a little. I miss you." No reply.

     "It's okay I guess." Fareeha stood and began prowling the clothing display. She found a long shirt that called her name. She put it on glad to be covered again, even though the deep bruises would last for weeks. She began wandering the remains if the shop. The shelves behind the cash register were stuffed with all sorts of personal items. She began sorting through piles of books, purses, and specialty hats. In the back she spotted a little watering can painted with flowers. It was full still, but the water was long past a drinkable state. She looked at the dead plant by the register. “I hope you don’t mind if I use this.”

     She stole a bright display shirt and plopped herself by Angela. She carefully turned the small figure so that Angela was resting on her side. Fareeha wet the fabric and began to clean the layers of muck off of Angela's face. At first is just smudged but eventually she was satisfied with her work. "Isn't that a little better ya amar? You’re really overheating though." A hand traced over her rosy cheek. "At least that means you still here." She let her gaze linger a while longer before using the remaining water to wash her own face.

     Fareeha stood again and stretched her ribs were almost painless at this point.  She checked the rest of the register area. She pulled open another drawer seeking something in particular, "Aha!" Fareeha held the prize overhead, a set of screwdrivers glinted in the sun. Fareeha began digging through receipts that were over a year old. There were a few other oddities and rubber bands but the only other useful item was a pair of fabric scissors. _‘I can work with this.’_ Now prepared and armed for combat she took to cleaning up her damaged legs.

     Settled in the corner of the wall she began to work. Taking off the main panel Fareeha started by picking out all of the rocks and debris that had forced its way into the joints of her prosthetics. "Angela, you know we have to move once the sun starts to go down again. I have a plan but who knows. You would probably think I'm going mad. It's so quite here I think I might just go mad anyways." She dove deeper into her own knee trying to uncover the damaged position. "But if you start snoring that opinion is subject change."

     "If only there was someone to laugh at my jokes at least. I could try to imitate you while I’m here though." Fareeha said.

     "You could but that would be assuming your jokes are laughable." Swedish accent Fareeha replied.

     "Rude."

     “What really rude is how much you stink. You’re not getting in this bed until you shower, twice.”

     “How could you, my own wife kick me out of bed!?”

     "My first wife was the field of medicine, I am a doctor I am void of all emotions. I use big words. You’re too odiferous. Photosynthesis. Cardiac arrest. Refrigerators. Lichtenstein."

     Fareeha faded out of the German accent as she focused on MacGyver-ing her leg back together. For a time she let the room fall into silence. The extra piston she had stolen from the Raptora would work for now. But there was nothing else that could really be done at this point. One last look the comatose doctor and Fareeha curled up in the weak shadows to get as much rest as she could before night hit.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was actually finished before the last one. It's also the first one I wrote entirely on my phone, and somehow typed faster than being on my computer. Anywho, leave your thoughts below I would love to hear from someone besides my stuffed animal co-writers.


	7. For now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written through the sneezes and tears of Mangos allergy season. But also thanks for hanging out here dudes!

       “Start the engines! D.va we have to get out now!” 76’called. The radio signals were finally strong enough reach camp. “Get all the civilians ready, we are coming in hot.” Even with Pharah stalling, a few persistent vehicles had managed to track them down.

      “Engines ready sir!” D.va called out as she anxiously hopped from one foot to the other watching the team sprinting to the ship.

      “Lucio get ready to McCree’s been hit bad.” Tracer shouted over the sound of gunfire. Moments later she had blinked into the cockpit the chair spinning from the force. “Everyone else get strapped in best you can. It’s going to be a rough take-off.” Lena pounded the control console after throwing off her cracked goggles. Small amounts of blood were left on the buttons as she ignored the cuts up her arm.

      “Everyone’s in, bay doors closing; get us the hell out of here!” 76’ cried out from the lower level.

      “I’m working on it.” The engines shot out a few bursts of flame. With the weight of all the extra people and cargo, she was going to have to override a few safety features. "Hang on everyone." The ship lurched up then finally jumped into the sky before a final push pulled them out of the range the firing range.

       Watching the nervous crowd below Hana felt something was off. “Lena?” Hana asked timidly from the co-piolet seat, “Where’s the mom’s?”    Lena didn’t answer but her focus out the window wasn’t natural. “They made it on right? Lena?” Again no answer. In a flash Hana began unclipping all of the safety belts.

      “Hana no! Don’t go down there now.” Lena reached out to stop her but she had already darted out of reach. Lena clenched her jaw as a potent mix of emotion began to well up inside of her chest. “They’re gone.” She whispered to the empty seat as a tear streaked down her cheek.

       Hana threw herself down the narrow stairway. It must have been bad if Angela needed backup fixing McCree up right? That has to be the reason. She broke into the lower deck and scanned the crowded floor. She could see Lucio’s healing as it glowed behind a stack of crates. Pushing her way past all of the faceless civilians she found herself in the pocket of Overwatch soldiers. McCree seemed to be doing better lying on the ground but no one was looking her in the eye. Scanning the group she still couldn't find the telltale halo or shining blue armor. 

      “Where are they?” Hana asked. A few shuffles but still no one was speaking up. “Where are Fareeha and Angela!?” Her voice was rising not wanting to accept what she couldn’t see.

      McCree mumbled from the ground. “Their gone kid. Don’t know what happened to Angela but Fareeha stayed behind so we could get out.”

      Hana’s brows were furrowed head slowly rocking back and forth. “no.” She whispered. “No, NO! We have to go back! They would never leave one of us behind.” Hana was borderline hysterical as Winston attempted to restrain her flailing form. “We can’t just leave them back there!”

      “There’s nothing else we can do. The fact that we were still being chased means Fareeha failed. Angel fell before then. We can’t do anything I’m sorry.” Winston was giving his best to try calming her down.

      “No you not.” She beat fists into the gorilla’s chest. “We can’t leave them.” Her shouts slowly faded as hot tears flooded down her face. "I can't lose my family again. Not again!" She repeated over and over falling into his shoulder as sobs overtook her. "Not again."

       Two hours later they had dropped all of the civilians off a refuge and rehabilitation center in the neighboring country. Lucio had steered Hana to a secluded corner of the ship. “Can you breathe yet?” He asked.

      “No,” Hana’s voice strained out from an overly congested nose. “Is, is McCree good?”

      “Ahhh, he will be fine. You just worry about yourself for now, a'ight?” Hana just snuffled. “Here, I made you a playlist.” Lucio took his nice pair of headphones and held it out to her. Hana just leaned over enough for him to slip them over her head. She sighed and leaned into Lucio's shoulder.

      “Thanks.” She replied weakly. Hana was eventually distracted enough to fall into a shallow, dreamless sleep.

*******

      “Did you even eat today?” Hana grunted and rolled over on the couch blankets pulled over her head. “Hey, I brought this to you last night and it hasn’t been touched. You need to eat a little or you’ll just feel worse.”

      "Just leave me alone," Hana mumbled.

      Ana walked over to the couch and pulled down the blanket. “No.” She came face to face with the red-eyed teen. When they had gotten back from the mission Ana was one of the last people to know. Fareeha and Angela were M.I.A., which in this case is code for dead. She was enjoying a cup of tea when the news came. Ana simply stood and left the room, leaving the steaming cup on the table. Rumor says you could hear her cursing and throwing furniture across her room all the way to the shore.  “You are not going to sit on this couch until you mold. Eat.” Even with one eye Ana won most staring contests.

       Hana eventually rose and sat on the couch staring into the wall. She took the warm plate but made no other motion. “If you absolutely want to be alone I will leave for the night. But only after you eat that.” Ana went back to clean in the kitchen, her eyes had heavy bags and her wrinkles seemed to have doubled in the last day. Hana mechanically chewed until the plate was empty then shuffled her entire cocoon to the kitchen to put her plate in the sink. She made her shuffley way towards her room when Ana reached out her arm to stop her. “Do you think I’m washing that?” She pointed at the lonely dish. Hana stared at the plate but unfortunately it didn’t combust.

       She shed the layers of quilts and washed the plate. Too tired to pick up the blankets she finally retreated to her room. Soon after a door outside closed, sign the Ana had left the apartment. Sitting on the edge of her bed Hana stared at the clock. It was barely past seven usually she could start streaming now and have a respectable audience, but none of her games seemed interesting. Without the blankets on Hana realized how dirty the shirt she had on was.

      “Uhhg, Fiine.” She shed the dirty shirt and threw it at an overflowing laundry basket. Looking for a suitable pajama shirt she was only met with an empty drawer. Hana reluctantly dragged the overflowing basket out to their laundry room slash office. On other thought, she timidly went into Angela and Fareeha’s room and pulled their basket to get cleaned as well. Sorting laundry was dull enough to be tolerable. After starting the load she realized the shirt wasn't the only thing that needed to be washed.

      Showering when the laundry machine was running was always a bit of roulette, but it was something that was required. “Of course Fareeha sent me back.” She thought. “Always protecting me as soon as the mission starts to go sour.” It really was the mom thing to do, protecting the young. Ever since Fareeha and her started getting along there was that sense that she was being hidden from the worst of battles. "Which is stupid.” The Korean army enlisted her when she was a teen thinking faster reflexes was what was needed to take down a robot that had destroyed their country numerous times. That omnic was just another enemy. There was the logic in securing all the civilians but it still seemed unfair that she was always the logical person to send away first. A sudden jet of freezing water jolted her away from the toxic path she wanted to follow. She frantically moved to counter the temperature change only to be met with a scorching wave.

      “Ow, shit!” Still scrambling she eventually balanced the water and finished before it could betray her again. Still short on clothes, she stole one of Fareeha's oversized shirts. eIt was something that normally was too big for the owner, so on Hana it was almost a dress. A half smile crossed her face when she saw the ridiculous apparel. The shirt would even float out when she spun. On a whim she checked her phone for the first time since getting home. _4 missed messages._ There were three pictures of dogs failing to catch Frisbees from Lena, and one message from Lucio.

 _“Wanna group up?”_ With a picture of a new puzzle game that had just been released.

      Hana debated not answering or making up some excuse. _“Sure. Start in five?”_

_“Yeet!”_

      The next morning Hana woke up on the couch. (Apparently Lucio had been stranded in the middle of the boss level when she had passed out.) She rose to find she was still wearing the tank of a top. Hana groaned as she realized she also forgot to switch the laundry. After moving the crinkly clothes and wandering the kitchen she found a container of beautiful pancake batter that had been left by Ana.

 _“If you don’t prove you ate this by ten I’m coming over to make you drink it._ ♥” Said the lovely sticky note on the side. Knowing full well that Ana doesn’t make hollow threats Hana cooked the batter like her life was a stake - which it was. She even took the liberty of making a smiley face on it before sending the ransom picture. As much as Hana would hate to admit, Amaris make amazing pancakes. The only problem with actually eating in the kitchen is that you could see every trace of those who had lived there. There were the overflowing bookshelves of trinkets and photos from different countries they had visited. Bookshelves of actual books. The cupboard dedicated solely to different coffee and hot chocolate makings. Or the picture of them visiting Fareeha’s dad, all three of them stacked in a snow cave with brightly colored jackets. In an instant any appetite that existed was gone as her body resorted to a familiar numbness. ‘ _Why does this house just have to be so, them.”_ The big window in the living room had a booth built around it so one could sit and read in the light. Or that couch. The one where they would always sit and make goo-goo eyes at each other and think they were being sneaky while Hana just wanted to watch the damn movie.

      She threw away the last quarter of her food and took refuge in her room, which was the only one without traces of them. Hana flopped on the bed for a while; surely she could melt into the mattress and have a year pass. Unfortunately, it was only fifteen minutes. From there she just fell into a dull pattern, ignore her phone, not answer the door, go to the bathroom, and stare at a wall, repeat. She would have ignored the dryer but it had been modified to keep beeping until someone came to get it. (There have been, incidents.) “Shuuut up!” The beeping was relentless and not willing to succumb to her demands.  After the long and arduous journey to the room one wall away. It easily could have taken less than an hour for her to sort and fold all the clothes but it’s not like there was anyone else here to care about how she managed her time. Surely she could do something better with all of it. After dropping the basket on the floor Hana glanced at the multiple black screens on her desk. _‘They might be gone but I there’s still something I can do.’_ She thought. On a whim she powered up the desktop before the energy disappeared again.  While it hummed to life she took to the bathroom, face paint on and hair up she went to work. She started the stream in silence waiting for the viewers to join. After twenty minutes of gameplay, she began.

      “Welcome back guys, we are just going to have some gameplay and maybe talk strats today. But all proceeds and donations from this stream will be matched and sent to the refugee relief in the Raput areas. If you're new to the stream welcome and………."  Streaming could never fix everything but it gave her something to start working with.

*******

_‘Swaying.’_

_'Like being on boat. No it was steadier back and forth like a hammock or a cloud. No a cloud would be silly. The water molecules are nowhere dense enough to support the mass of a person. Maybe if it was a really large cloud it would work.’_ She shook her head, _‘how would that work any better it would still be the same density regardless of the size.’_

      "Angela?"

_‘Hmmm? Oh right, that's me. I should probably answer. It would be rude to leave them. What do I even say though? Why would they even be here? I've just been alone for, a while. Wait, I know what they must be here for.'_

      "Do you have an appointment?" Angela slurred. _‘Nailed it.’_

      "Angela! Come on your so close. Wake up."

_‘What.’_

      Angela's eyes slid open with the grace of a garage door, Grinding and whirring and more than ready to snap back down at a moments notice.

      "Please stay with me this time. You’ve almost made it."

      Angela was able to focus in on a figure. They were sitting so close, no she was laying against their legs. A smile splitting across their face breaking the dark of the night. _‘I know this one. Fair, uhhh, fettuccine ammo_ _? No that can't be right.’_

      "Reeha?" Angela croaked out.

      "Yeah, that's me. Don't fall back asleep, okay?" Fareeha said voice stronger than it's been in days a wild grin splitting her face. Her hand was wandering through Angela's dirty hair.

      "Where," Angela tried to sit up but was met with a wave of pain and nausea. _‘What is happing to me.’_

      "Yeah, don’t try to do that." Fareeha shuffled to pour water into the lid of the canteen. "You need to drink this." Angela took the lid in shaking hands. Unable to hold it still Fareeha steadied her hands and helped tilt it towards her mouth. "Are you, okay?"

      "What happened?"

      Fareeha's face drooped. "I'll tell you when you’re feeling better. Can you eat this?" She held out a piece of granola the size of a penny. Angela took it and held in her mouth for an eternity before gathering enough energy to chew.

      Angela broke into a fit of coughs. "It's fine." She barely squeaked out.

      "It's okay amar, those ones are pretty bad. The blueberry ones are always better." Fareeha had gone back to combing through her hair. She was handed another chunk of food, this one went down a little better. Fareeha seemed, off. Her eyes sagged with fatigue but watched Angela with more concern than she had ever seen.

      “Reeha?” Angela asked voice still not strong enough to be above a whisper. “Why are you wearing that horrendous shirt?”

      “You’re really going to make that your first question?” Angela paused for a minute as if deep thought before nodding. “It was the lightest colors I could find. We are going to be stuck in this desert for a while so fashion isn’t really an option.” As if realizing the later part for the first time Angela’s’ head bobbled around to look around the dusty streets.

      “Where is everybody else?”

      “Hopefully back home by now.”

      “You mean back at camp?”-Angela tried to move again sparking up more pain. “Why can I not. move. a damn. thing?” She whined shoulders rolling.

      “I, Angela,” Fareeha stuttered and looked away, “The camp was taken down, we are the only ones here. You, your..” Fareeha groaned into a hand. "There were a lot of mistakes made." She pulled out the Halo and passed it to its original owner. "You should probably look at it for yourself." With a quizzical brow Angela accepted the halo. ‘Fareeha Amari: Minor rib fractures. 260mil nanites advised.’

      “Reeha that’s not too bad.” –She watched as the data began filling for herself. You could hear her face drop. “That explains some, stuff.”

      “You’re taking this surprisingly well?” Fareeha tilted her head.

      Angela flopped her hands up hoping for the dramatic effect. “What else I’m I supposed to do, stand up and walk away? HA, you ow.” The extra movement was not appreciated by the rest of her body she was forced to settle with angry humming.

      Fareeha placed a hand on Angela’s forehead. “I really would recommend not doing that.”

      "You don't say," Angela mumbled. Fareeha let out a small chuckle her body feeling lighter than it had been for days.

      “I missed you.”

      The let the moment sit a few breaths longer before coming back to reality. “What are we even going to do now.”

      Fareeha sighed. “Well, we can’t head towards the camp since it’s gone and virtually in the middle of nothing. I know from the maps that there was a huge abandoned commercial district a couple miles off. From there I’m hoping to find some sort of radio tower or something that will let us get a signal out. We better start going though; there are only a few more hours until the sun comes back.” Fareeha moved to pack up their few supplies. “I need to move you now. It’s going to hurt a little.” Angela nodded fully aware that no amount of splints could stop the pain.

      “Just get it over with.”

      “Yes ma’am.” Fareeha threw a weak salute before beginning the task of pulling Angela onto her back and tying her into place with a sling of stolen shirts. Angela could do nothing but grit her teeth as the breath flew from her lungs. It wasn't until a few minutes after they had started moving that she was able to think over her screaming muscles. "You okay?" Fareeha asked leaning her head into Angela's as she continued the steady pace.

      “Just peachy. If you just ignore the fact that I’m currently paralyzed and stranded in the middle of a desert.” She nuzzled into Fareeha’s neck. “You stink.”

      “Love you too.”  They walked a few more blocks past identical buildings. “Angela?” Fareeha asked

       “Yeah.”

       “Can you keep talking to me, it doesn’t really matter what you say. I’m getting sick of the silence. But it's okay if you're too tired.”

       Angela nodded. There were only so many conversation topics in their surroundings. Like ‘hey that building actually has paint on it.’ So, for now, she would settle for something else, something much lighter than this. “I’ll try.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back ferns. Pacing-wise this chapter was weird for me but I think I got it worked out. I'm going to be in Alaska for the next two weeks visiting family so there won't be any updates till the fifteenth-ish (I'm actually going to try to hit that day.) Worry not though, I will be writing a bunch still just can't post.
> 
> (Also remember that time I said this would be about 10 chapters? I'm currently at bullet point 5/12 in the middle of chapter 8. Soo, yeah?)


	8. Berries

 

     Angela glanced down at her watch, already twenty minutes late to the first meeting and she really didn't care. There were still some legal loopholes with the recall they had yet to deal with but as long as she could work in a state of the art lab again, it was worth it. No more interns trying to win her favor or creepy ancient professors trying to weasel in on her research. The door opened soundlessly to reveal her old lab. Angela flipped on the lights to find some of them flickering on death's door. The small office in the back had been untouched for years. Which also meant no one had moved the assortment of papers covered in her messy scrawl, the pile of lab coats on the couch, or the poor abandoned bar of chocolate in the top desk drawer. (Poor chocolate, maybe it's still edible. The Swiss do build things to last.)

     Angela plopped and turned on the main computer. It hummed to life, "Welcome Dr. MD. Mrs. Doctor. PhD. Angela Ziggy-Mc Ziegler."  She snorted remembering setting up the ridiculous username; she had no intention to change it.  She pulled out a flash drive and popped it into the system. The loading screen popped up, 596GB of data estimated time of download 15 minutes. She checked her watch again, now a good half hour late to the meeting.

     "Uuuhhhhg I guess.” Angela spun in her chair letting it go around multiple times. She finally dropped her feet to stop the swivel and began to ooze out the door. Meetings here were always so dull Winston would always try his hardest, but he was never going to be a great lecturer. Or even worse, the awful everyone introduce yourself section. Angela turned back into her old office and opened the side closet. She started up the little cleaning droid that immediately began working on pulling dust from the shelf in the office. "Thank you Roombo, glad you’re still working." It beeped back pleased to be used again.

     Angela headed towards the meeting dragging out each step, but one had to admit high heels always sounded amazing when walking down long empty hallways. Angela reached the conference room and eased the door open. She took the last available seat on the back row; Winston gave her a little wave before getting back to his speech. "Uhh as I was saying we have access to most countries and there are many world leaders that are willing to turn a blind eye to us operating..."

     Angela busied herself with trying to identify the other figures in the room. McCree was obvious with the cowboy getup; he had finally put on some weight and was no longer a scrawny six-foot twig. There was the hulking form of a gray haired Reinhardt taking up an entire table and Lena bouncing in her seat, blue glow showing through her loud hoodie. A handful of former foot soldiers and pilots were here as well. Angela was pulled out of her thoughts when the person next to her shifted. _‘Mein Gott_ _is she eating during the meeting? This is a real hero.’_

     "Do you want some?" She whispered at Angela who may or may not have been staring.

     "No. No, I'm good. Fine." Angela turned away and tried to focus on the presentation. A singular blueberry rolled across the table in front of her.

     "You sure? I ended up getting too many since they were on sale." The woman continued to eat another berry, pulling them from the oversized hoodie pockets. "Taaaaake it." Hardly one to turn down free food Angela reached out to the lonesome berry on the table. "Good stuff right? There were strawberries but those are a little harder to hide."

     "Are you saying you bought these for the sole purpose of sneaking?" The women shrugged.

     "Well, I bought them and decided to sneak after. The strawberries are alone in my room. Hopefully, they don't suffer separation anxiety." She rolled another berry to Angela.

     "I'm sure they're fine," Angela responded.

     Her mouth turned into a crooked grin, "You don't understand, they must be kept berry safe." Angela snorted. Winston shot a quizzical look in their direction. They both sat straight and pretended to listen once more. The women tapped Angela's hand under the table. Angela opened her palm as several berries were dropped into her possession. The women put a finger to her mouth. "I guess we are supposed to stay berry quiet."

     "It didn't count if you use the same pun twice," Angela said trying to keep her face neutral. _‘Holy shit there’s also raspberries.’_

     "Well maybe you should stop counting, I've barely started." Angela was saved from the pain of the last remark when Winston called out to her.

     "For those that are new here, this is Angela, head surgeon and medical researcher." She stood to acknowledge the glances being tossed her way. One of the younger recruits threw up a peace sign. Winston gave them a moment before continuing. "Angela, would you like to say something?" 

     "Sure, If any of you are worried I'm not going to perform any sort of mandatory examinations. Hopefully you can send your records to me and we can start from there. If you have any questions or concerns I'll be in the lab." She paused as a small smile quirked up. "Other than that the less we have to see each other in the med-bay the better. I prefer seeing all of you in working condition." A few agreements and nods filled the air. Winston began his closing remarks as Angela sat back down.

     "All of the rooms are first come first serve so get settled in." He continued on about food and other things around the base. Angela bit into a particularly sour raspberry and her face exploded into a grimace. The women next to her saw the unfortunate face and began to sniker, a breath in and she was choking on a berry.

     The whole meeting came to a standstill as the back room turned to watch Angela cackling at the other chocking recruit. She finally began breathing again after a small fit of coughing. Aware of the shift in attention she stood up. "Good meeting guys," Her voice cracked.  She backed up to the door shooting finger guns. "See you all later. McCree, loving the beard, it suits you." She disappeared behind the door.

     Winston pushed his glasses back in place. "Uh yeah. I guess that's everything. Like I said the first mission will be in two days. So get settled in and let's do some good work for the world." Everyone began to shuffle out the room a few pleasantries being shared. Angela made her way out hoping to escape the small talk. She glanced down the hallway hoping to see berry dealer, but she was nowhere in sight. An omnic walked, no floated past humming to himself.

     Angela ended up in the lab again downloading, prioritizing old projects, and then organizing the lab. Hours past and she was still digging into different boxes checking if the machines would still be compatible with some of her recent projects. She even joined Roombo in the cleaning as she began to dust off the higher areas.  She didn't notice the sun dip past the horizon or the clock tick past midnight. It was well past two before she even felt the itch of fatigue. 

     She entered her dorm across the hall. The small room had no windows and was pitch black when the lights were off. Frankly Angela tended to not mind since she hardly ever slept during regular hours. Another perk of the medical staff rooms is they came with their own showers and full-size beds. She opened the dresser to find it stocked with clothes that she had forgotten about. Nice. She carefully slid into bed and eventually let sleep take over.

     The next few days slid by in the same fashion. Angela was making another trip to the coffee maker in the common room. The list of things that were not working in her lab consisted of one item. That item was her personal coffee maker. (She had seriously debated holding a funeral for it.) She found a team of recruits rearranging the furniture in the room. A younger woman with chocolate brown bun was taking control of the remodel. "Okay, the plan is to set up the game center here. All of the bigger couches are going to the theater next door. So there will be more room here to chill."

     "Wait, Hana. Shouldn't we put the theater here by the kitchen so we have better snack access?" They both paused thinking of the alternative.

     She snapped. "I like where you’re going but with all the big windows here it would be harder to obtain the 'perfect movie theater experience'. I feel like people making food can get too noisy. Besides gaming is better when you have optimal snacking capabilities." She paused to make sure her reasoning was sound. She noticed Angela cheering on the coffee pot as it slowly chugged out one drop at a time. "Yo doc! What do you think would work better?"

     Angela jumped not expecting the attention. “The room down the hall is where they used to hold debriefings and top meetings. It has the most secure doors and walls making it completely sound proofed." She watched both of their jaws drop.

     "Holy, Lucio we hit the jackpot!" He nodded in agreement. "We could blast sound and not bother anyone. Thanks doc!" The both grunted as they lifted the couch and began waddling it to its destination. As tempting as it was to go back to the lab Angela had let work get in the way of basic human needs for the last days. She had just settled down at the bar after stealing from someones stash when

     "Yo, what is up doc?" The furniture movers sat on either side of her. "We haven't really met yet. I'm Hana song, pro Starcraft gamer, mech piolet, and glad to be out of Korea for once." She held out her hand to shake. "Then this over here is Lucio. Music writer. Stole some sick skates from Vishkar, started some riots, all good things." Lucio half bowed in acknowledgment. "And you?"

     Angela caught the notion that she had to speak. "I'm Dr. Ziegler, You can call me Angela. I research micro-machines that do, stuff. I also make sure you guys stay in one piece." She scratched her nose.

     "Science is cool." Lucio chipped in. Hana nodded in agreement. The three of them sat in silence for a few moments before Angela spoke up again.

     "So, where exactly is everyone? It's been quite around here."

 

     "They wouldn't let us go since we haven't been tested according to ‘Overwatch standards.’" Hanas' voice was dripping in mockery as she air quoted. "They left us here but the HIS lady is the one leading the team. She didn't have to do the testing. Hana flopped onto the table and let out a moan. "I'm sooo bored."

     "Who do we have from Helix?" Angela inquired.

     "It's the lady you sat next to in the meeting. Farren, pharaoh. I dunno, Lucio did you catch her name at all?"

     Lucio had started listening to music in one ear. "Nup. I think it was closer to pharaoh." They both sighed.

     "You know you can do the testing in the training center." Angela nonchalantly stirred her coffee. "You can have Athena run the droids, or start at the shooting range. It takes an hour or so to do the standard testing. That's all on the east side of the second floor."

     Both of the youth jumped from melting on the counter to sprinting down the hall. "Yeeeeaaaah something to dooooooo!" Their screams ricocheted off the walls.

     Angela spoke to the empty room hoping the resident AI was still functioning. "Athena, can you give me information for the current mission?"

     "Yes Doctor Zeigler. The mission will be a ten-day escort. Based on the simplicity of the mission they should return no later than ten pm next Thursday. Would you like more information?"

     "No thank you Athena. I'm going to head home for the week. If there are any injuries or changes for that mission send me an update." Angela placed her mug in the sink.  Since she was still waiting on all of her supplies to arrive, there really was no reason to stick around.

*******

     A week home alone without work. This was not something that happened often at the home of Angela Ziegler. Leaving the crowded hospital lab was a bit of a pain but she had finished nine different books with all the free time. Angela made her way into the Overwatch lab. There had been no reported injuries but people were bound to wander into the med bay for something they had hidden.

     She flipped on the lights to the main office, went to hang up her jacket and

     "Yo. You work with prosthetics right?"

     Spooked Angela jumped and her jacket dropped to the floor. She turned to see an arm sticking up from the couch. "What are you doing in my office?!" Angela asked thoroughly shocked.

     "Well I was wondering if you knew where to find Ak-4 gears since their really only used in prosthetics." The figure on the couch sat up and legs hanging over the armrest. It was the berry dealer.

     "I should have some around here. But here's the better question, how did you get in my office?" Angela asked still flustered.

     "Through the door?"

     "That's not what I meant." The women raised an eyebrow at Angela. "How did you get in here. This office can only be accessed by me or those with express permission from me."

     The other women let out a hearty laugh. "I did have permission. I guess it was just still in the system from years ago." She stood and made her way to Angela. "I guess I never properly introduced myself, I'm Fareeha." She held out her hand. Angela squinting up at the smug face still couldn't quite place it in her memory. The tattoo was similar to ones she had seen before, but still not clicking. The women caught on to the confusion. "Amari. Fareeha Amari."

     Angela felt like she had been hit by a bus. She stammered trying to organize some sort of thought.  "What nooo. No You. You used to be such a terror around here. Not a terror terror. But now you. When did you get taller than me?"

      "Yep that's me, but Angela you can let go of my hand now." She said with a giant grin. Angela swiftly shoved both hands deep into her pockets. "I would ask if you missed me but that might be pushing it. As for getting taller than you, I think that happened a while ago. You didn't set a very hard goal to beat."

Angela felt her face go red. (If it wasn't already flushed.) "Hey! " She lightly punched Fareeha's shoulder. "Just because you have the stupidly aggressive Amari Genes doesn’t mean you have to rub it in."

     "Yes, the long, tall Amari blue jeans. Passed down for generations." Angela just glared at her.

     "Anyways." Angela inhaled sharply. "You were here for something."

     "Ak-4 gears for prosthetic legs. I assume they would be here rather than one of the workshops." Fareeha said in a back to a business manner.

     Angela nodded. "I'm pretty sure I saw them recently." She wandered out into the lab. Fareeha followed, after hanging up Angela's forgotten jacket. Angela dug around one of the closets before rolling out a large tool box. "This has most of your gears and bits. Why exactly do you need again?" Angela noticed the way Fareeha walked, pulling her weight to one side, her face sank. "Sorry, I guess I haven't been paying attention. For some reason I didn’t think this was for you." Her voice was suddenly filled with worry.

     "Puberty is wild." Fareeha quirked as she began looking through the different draws.

     "Sorry, I shouldn't ask. It's entirely common for people in this line of work to lose something."

     "No you're fine. It happened a few years after I joined the military. Roadside explosive that one of my cadets missed. I got him out of the way,"-she gave a weak smile-"I guess I should have moved a little further too."

     Angela's voice dropped. "Did Ana ever know?"

     Fareeha pulled out the last small drawer. "She never knew. Ana disappeared two months before it happened.”- She held up the small gear.” This should be all I need."

     Angela perked up. "Okay. Just sit over there and I'll put it in for you."

     "I can get it myself."

     "Hey my lab, my rules." Fareeha didn't budge. "I’m not letting you duct tape your leg back together, Madam I should have done this a while ago."

     Fareeha gave up and sat down where she was told. "Roombo do you have my, ahh thank you." Angela picked up a pair of black glasses from the droid. "Let's see, do you know which processing program your prosthetic runs on Fareeha?" Angela asked as she continued to pull tools out of the closet.

     "It's the AtoZ sensory processor." Angela chuckled and pushed another chair over, she had small screwdriver perched on top her ear. "I take it you familiar with that one."

     "Yeah, it's one of the best." She directed Fareeha to rest her leg on an upturned box. "Recreates the sensory information and sends an artificial signal directly to the brain bypassing any complications through the spine. Took forever to write."

     "You wrote the coding?"

     Angela sat down and rolled into her spot peering over her glasses. "Do you really think AtoZ stands for the alphabet? Honestly, people are always surprised by that. I tend to do most of my work under pseudonyms." Angela took the screwdriver from her ear and began to undo the paneling around Fareeha's ankle.

     "I would assume it's because prosthetics are more mechanical than biological. For a doctor to write code breaks the expectations."

     "Well yes. People tend to only notice the mechanical aspect. But in order to process things like heat and pain one has to create a biological machine." She popped off the main plate revealing the internal workings before Fareeha could ask another question. "You know there's a lot of frayed wiring here."

     "That is new. Tell me doctor, is it fatal?" Fareeha placed the back of her hand on her forehead.

     "I can tell you've done a lot of your own work on these. But unfortunately you'll live. Do you mind if I replace most of this wiring?"

     "Be my guest. It's not often I get professional care." The room fell quite as Angela went through cutting out the damaged wires.

     Angela finally reached her target and pulled out a gear that had a crack trailing across the middle. "You were right about the AK gear. That's probably what's been cutting your wires." She threw it at a nearby garbage can, the gear bounced off the side and plinked onto the floor.

     "Nice shot."

     "Har har.” Just as Angela was getting back to work Roombo came in to pick up the piece. He scanned it and instead of putting it in the trash he brought it back to Angela holding it to her attention. “Hey it’s broken, it goes in the trash.” He didn’t move. “Garbage.” She said slowly. He turned and placed it back into the drawer of new pieces. Angela rolled her eyes waited for Roombo to leave before taking the broken gear out of the case and hiding it in her pocket.

     Fareeha snickered. “Cute little droid you got there.”

     “He tries.” There was a click as the new gear settled into place. Angela braided the last wires back in and began reassembling the outside panel. “I believe that’s everything for you.”

     Fareeha took her foot down and briefly inspected the work flexing it back and forth. “You know with the glasses on you don’t really look like an Angela.” Angela raised a brow.

     “Is that so, what do I look like to you then?” Angela asked nonchalantly as she put all her tools back into their case.

     Fareeha shrugged “Dunno, maybe a Veronica or something like that.”

     “Ugh, you make it sound like I’m a hundred years old. You really couldn’t think of anything else.”

     “I would have to mull it over for a while.” Fareeha bounced on her heels, “Do you want to check the other leg while I’m here, or am I good?"

     Angela dropped her screwdriver. "You lost both of them!?"

     "There was a discount if I bought a matching set. That's nothing compared to how much money I save on socks."

*******

     "Oye, hurry up. We got to go get the new member."

     "Lena I'm working now, can't you guys go without me."

     "Oh, sure." Lena turned to leave. Just as she stepped out of the office she blinked back into the exact spot she was at. "Bet your arse not! If I let that excuse slide every time you would be a wrinkled prune before you saw sunlight again. This is mandatory team bonding."

     "By whose order is it mandatory."

     "The Queen herself." Angela attempted to feign deafness. “I said the Queen! Move.” Lena swatted her ponytail back and forth until she caved in. The thing that Lena didn't mention was that they were making the trip with one vehicle and far too many passengers.

     "Okay doc after you." Lena pointed to the sliver of seat remaining between the door and Satya. Angela reluctantly scooted into the spot. Hana and Lucio were stacked in the front seat of the car.

     "Lena I'm not sure this is a good idea...."

     "Bombs away!" Lena launched herself in the back seat landing on top of the four other people. "Angela you mind closing that door," Lena said pointing with her foot, she looked up at Fareeha whose lap had become a pillow. "Sup?"

     "Lena I thought you said we were picking up someone else?” Fareeha asked. “This car a little packed."

     "We are only picking them up after lunch," Lena responded. Fareeha opened her mouth to speak but decided it was better to not argue.

     Lucio and Hana started chanting in the front seat. "Lunch, lunch, lunch."

     "We can't fit groceries and an extra person, Lena." Angela tried to rationalize.

     Lena shoved a shushing hand in the air. "Too late. Drivers already here we can't change the plans now."

     Reinhardt settled into the driver’s seat of the van. "Are we all ready to go? Ahhhh, Angela nice to see that you could join us for our late lunch." He boomed. Hana, Lucio and now McCree were chanting for lunch.  They bounced down the crumbling road and soon everyone had broken into separate conversations. Angela rest her head on the window and tried to ignore the feet bouncing on her lap, and the music blasting, or the fact that she was being mashed into a door.

     "Hey Lucio, can you turn the radio down a bit. We shouldn't have to yell to talk to each other." Fareeha said after tapping his shoulder a few times.

     Lucio quickly obliged and clicked off the radio. Both Angela and Satya relaxed a bit. "Yea, I didn't really like this station either. I just wasn't sure about everyone else."

     "I love Hasselhoff" Reinhardt claimed as he pouted.

     "It was getting a bit chaotic." Lucio refuted. They finally pulled into the diner parking lot and tumbled out of the van. It had the old look with big golden windows and a large neon sign.

**"Betty Bop Burgers. Kill 'em we grill 'em"**

     "Ehh, so you did go to the restaurant I picked," McCree called out. All of Spain to go to and he wants the road kill dinner. They filed into the biggest booth, which was only slightly roomier than the car. Angela found herself next to Fareeha at one end of the ark.

     The crew was greeted by their server and they soon began rattling off orders. Most of the staff consisted of omnics and service droids dressed in bright checkered aprons. Before long their entire table was hidden with all sorts of deep fried dishes.

     "I bet I can drink more milkshakes than you." Hana declared as she saw that Lucio had ordered a similar beverage as her.

     "You are on." They continued the back and forth occasionally throwing fries at each other.

     Fareeha leaned over to Angela. "You doing okay?" She whispered.

     "I'm fine why would you ask," Angela said staring intently at space.

     "Well you've hardly touched any of your food. I dunno, you just seem a little tense." Fareeha glanced down at a clenched fist with white knuckles. Angela followed suit to see her own hand. She shifted and flexed her hand few times trying to reduce the tension.

     "Sorry, I guess don't really, group," Hana ordered another round of milkshakes.

     Fareeha gave a half smile. "Understandable. You've seemed to be in panic mode since you got to the car. I take it Lena didn't give you a choice in coming did she." Angela nodded.

     "She has a habit of doing that. I bet you were working." Fareeha teased.

     It was if the floodgates opened. Angela was suddenly more animated than she had been all day. "I was in the middle of a really important thing. I finally got this 2-d model to render in 3-d. It's taken days to get it right. Now that I have that working I can finally start working on the new..” Angela took notice of Fareeha’s grin. “You set me up.” She pouted.

     "It must be so hard always being in the middle of such important work."- Fareeha teased- "I think what you should be worried about now is that those two have hit milkshake five and we’re all sharing a car for who knows how long."

     Angela hummed. "Yeah I have been watching that. Hopefully traffic at the airport is kind to us."

     Being warned of their time restrictions Lucio and Hana went into crisis mode. Lena was more than willing to mediate their bet. "We need a speed round!" She said slapping both hands on the table. Both nodded eagerly. They ordered two more strawberry shakes with the intent of murder. It was a close match but Hana was struck with a bolt of brain freeze. In her moment of pain Lucio finished.

     "Yes! Pay up Song. I am the victor to-DAY!" Lucio harassed her with a flurry of pokes to the head.

     "You want me to pay up? I'll show you paying." Hana stole the bill from the table. "Full tab and a 75% tip." Cheers rose from around the table.

     "Hana are you sure about doing that?" Reinhardt asked voice full of concern.

     She passed the bill onto the waitress. “Easy.”

     The waiter took the returned with their receipt and a heaping hand full of mints. They stacked in the van like clowns but Angela had moved to Fareeha's side finding it a little less chaotic. Lena made like a seatbelt and flopped over everyone. "So Fareeha," Leana asked one hand on her stomach the other patting Fareehas face. "You seem like quite the lady killer. Did you end up leaving anyone special at home?"

     Fareeha unceremoniously peeled Lena’s hand from her face. “Unfortunately not, I would get missions that lasted months at a time, there really wasn’t anyone that stayed for long.”

     “A no then, Shame.” Lena wasted no time before jumping to her next target. “Yo, Angela! Have you done anything super gay recently? I need advice.”

     “Mein Gott, Lena.” Angela smacked her head into the window.

     “What, it’s a serious question. There’s this one person, I’ve been talking to her for ages now and I just want there to be more, you know?”

     “And you thought that was the best way to phrase it?” Angela turned just enough to glare at the hedgehog with one eye.

     “Well yeah, you’re like the gayest one here. That’s even including Jesse.” He just shrugged at the claim.     

 _‘Overwatch was a mistake’_ Angela thought hoping her face was remaining a neutral color. “Lena,” She hissed through clenched teeth.

     “What?! I just don’t want to lose this one.”

     “If she’s tolerated you for this long I think you have a chance. Have you considered just asking her if she feels the same?”

     “No?” Lena’s face twisted into confusion. “Like you can do that without it being weird?”

     "Weirder than sitting alone in a room with her and questioning every gesture?"

     “Woah.” Angela let out a weak groan as Lena passed through this revelation.

     They pulled into the grocery store and Reinhardt gave strict instructions that they had to be done and back to the car in fifteen minutes. Hana and Lucio took off sprinting while the rest of the passengers were still unstacking.

     Angela had guessed right. Fifteen minutes passed and they were in the car again headed towards the airport. Both Hana and Lucio were staring into the distance and shivering every time the car hit a bump. When they reached the airport they were met with the massive pink haired Aleksandra. Hana and Lucio volunteered to sit in the trunk of the van surrounded by groceries and luggage. After hearing the fifth painful moan from the trunk Angela finally took action.

     “Rein, do you remember where the ‘Charles’ safe house was?” Angela asked the driver.

     “Why of course! That was one of the best ones. Shame it was sold when we disbanded.”

     “Yeah, I’m the one who bought it. If you could just drop me and those two off there we won’t have to clean up vomit in the morning.” She pointed at the lifeless bodies in the trunk.

     “Ah.” He turned away from the main road into the neighborhoods.

     Aleks broke out into a hearty laugh. "I can sympathize with one who drinks too much, if they're sick they must have lost, no?" She slapped her thigh thoroughly amused. “I like those guys already.” She said to herself.

     They pulled in front of the complex and Angela was more than ready to get out of the crowded car. She threw open the trunk, "Alright, I'm taking you two to my house unless you want to stay in the trunk for another hour."

     “kay,uhhgthank” Lucio was the first to ooze out of the back only to stumble into Angela.

     Angela turned into the open back. “Can I get some help with these?”

     “I got it.” Fareeha was the first to hop out ignoring Lena’s complaining about losing her pillow. From there she coaxed Hana out of the back. After closing the trunk they began leading the incapacitated drinkers out of the street.

     Now, the real problem is that I’m on the third floor.” Angela said over the moaning blob. Three painful flights later they finally reached the door. Angela paused. “Sorry, I’m trying to remember if I left any of my stuff in the living room.” Fareeha shot a quizzical look.

     “Is that really a problem?”

     “Well just some confidential papers on some research that someone wants me to verify.” She fumbled with her overflowing key ring. “Come to think of it the last thing I was working was the French dentists crap. He’s a certified ass go ahead and plagiarize whatever you see.”

     “Very classy.” Fareeha snorted.

     “There’s a bunk in the first room. The second one has some twin beds.” Angela pointed to the right of the apartment. “Both are stocked with random clothes so help yourselves.”

     “kay.” Hana wandered off claiming the first room. Forcing Lucio to walk the extra twelve steps to the other.

     "I guess you can choose," Angela said to a now lost Fareeha. "That couch is a hide-a-bed, there's a murphy bed on that wall. This place was built to sleep fifteen people at a time; you could probably find a bed in one of the kitchen cabinets if you looked hard enough.”

     “I’m fine just staying on the..” Fareeha was interrupted by the sound of Hana heaving in the other room. Angela just took a deep breath as one hand covered the bridge of her nose.

     “I’m not even sure why I bother. Just do whatever, but also go check on the other kid.” Angela disappeared into the room and Fareeha could faintly hear her knocking on the bathroom door. “Hana, can I come in.” Needless to say, not many people were able to sleep that night. You learn things you never wanted to know about people when they are sick. Lucio mostly feigned death and was quiet most of the night. Hana on the other hand, didn't have a settled stomach until well after four in the morning, Angela suspected mild food poisoning had been a factor. That also included having to change sheets once and three different shirts.

     Once thing was for certain, Angela's alarm rang far too early. God only knows why she decided to set one in the first place. After crying and screaming internally she defied gravity and all known laws of physics to leave the warmth of her bed. This was a drink straight out of the coffee pot day for sure.

     Angela opened her door to the living room. "Good morning doctor."

     Initiate heart attack. Screaming wouldn't really describe what sound Angela made. Screaming involves air leaving the body. Instead, this was more a gibberish intake of air with some complementary German swears.

     Fareeha laughed. "Don't say you forgot I was here? Ouch." She put a hand over her heart.

     Meanwhile Angela's heart was still pounding out of her chest. She peeled her hand off the door frame. "I may have blocked my memory from last night."

     "You should really watch your language though. Everyone learns the swear words first." Fareeha held up a little bowl. "Hopefully you don't mind that I stole some food. And hopefully you like pancakes."

     "I don't think it counts as stealing if you share."

     "Okay. I'll just take it out to all my drug runner buddies now." Angela's brow crawled up. "Alright you caught me. My drug buds are in Egypt still." Fareeha poured out the pancake mix into the pan.

     "Okay good. I wouldn't want them infringing on my territory." She sipped her coffee loudly.

     "Ohhh, so some days this pharmacist becomes the harmacist."

     "I'd be careful since you don't know which one I am today." Angela watched Fareeha's eyes squint, gears turning to find another rebuttal.

     "Is that real food?" A voice croaked from the side. They turned to see the remains of Hana poking through the cracked door.

     Fareeha responded. "Yeah, first pancakes almost ready." Hana slunk out of the room blanket cloak trailing behind her. After some struggle she finally balanced on top of a barstool.

     "You should probably drink this." Angela pushed a tall glass towards her. "You're bound to be dehydrated after,"

     "Puking my guts out?" -Hana finished- "What is this, some kind of magic concoction to heal all ails?"

     "Hot chocolate. So, you're not entirely wrong."

     "Ahhhh." Hana hummed like a philosopher discovering the meaning of life.

     Fareeha interrupted Hana's concentration. "Are you ready to take the honor of eating the first pancake?" Hana laser focused on the golden shield.

     "Is that a challenge?"

     "I could be." Fareeha taunted.

     "NooOO!"-Angela interjected raising both hands defensively- "No more of those. No."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternative title: Angela talks about the time she could walk. Rip leggies ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Also this chapter was meant to be a little slower. I promise I'm going somewhere with this.


	9. Stepping stones

             "Hey! Don't you dare touch that." Angela snapped at the little cleaning droid. "We've talked about this. You're not allowed to touch that table when I'm running Petri tests." Roombos’ single eye momentarily blinked from green to red. His little arm slowly buzzing back to the table "Just because you’re looking at me doesn't mean I can't see your hand moving. This bacterium is for tests, it’s not a mess. Scoot." She herded the robot out of the lab ignoring its complaining beeps. "I will reset you if you keep ignoring the rules."

         He left with one last whistle. "Is that the mouth you speak to your mother with?!" Angela said aghast at its poor language. But technically his mother was Torbjorn...

        She glanced out the window in her office to see a few stars pricking through the night. It was rare when the sky was clear this close to the shore. Angela stored her lab coat and skipped up the narrow stairway. There was a helipad connected directly to the med bay that stuck out over the sea and frankly, Angela hadn't been working on much today. She swiped her key at the top and swung open the access door. Night already had a firm grip in the sky and the quarter moon gave way to the other stars. One thing did stand out, a dark form sat in the middle of the pad. It wasn't entirely uncommon for debris to gather up here but it could be a safety hazard. Doing the sensible thing Angela took up her duty to kick the trash over the edge.

         A few steps in and the trash spoke. "Sup." Punctuated by a raised peace sign.

         Angela gasped clutching her chest like an 83-year-old woman who just heard a child swearing in public. "Jeez! Stop doing that." She spat out.

         "Stop doing what?" Fareeha questioned, oblivious to the fact that Angela may soon break a hip due to her sudden old age.

         "Showing up in places you’re not supposed to be."

         "It's just a helipad?"

         "A landing pad that only has two access points that I have the keys too. Seriously, how the hell did you get up here?"

         "I just climbed over from the other roof." Fareeha pointed at a building 60 meters away that was casually protruding over the sea. Before Angela asked 'why' Fareeha answered. "I was bored, plus there's always a better view of the stars from here, also Mccree is a skank."

         "I'm afraid to ask how that’s related."

         Fareeha pat the cement next to her inviting Angela to sit. "Lemme tell you a story. Also, help me get rid of all these pretzels since Mccree is a skank." She cleared her throat dramatically. "Once upon an every Friday night at 7 pm me and skank would get together and play poker. I was tokens away from winning his precious hat, but what does he do? Goes on a mission without telling me leaving me behind with all these snacks and no hat, like a filthy skank!"

         "Absolutely scandalous." Angela hugged her legs to her chest. "But I don't think skank is the proper term."

         Fareeha's laugh was caught short in her throat. "But it’s fun to say, skank skankity Skaaaaank skank."

         "You know I have the authority to throw you off this roof?"

         "Mkay, I’ve finished." Fareeha paused. "You know what's not finished yet? All these pretzels." She sat up on an elbow shook the bag intimidatingly. "This is only the first bag."

         “Fareeha how many of those do you have?” Fareeha glanced to the backpack she was using as a pillow.

         “Uhhh,” She mentally counted. “Eight-ish.” Angela’s face twisted through three different states of confusion before she tilted her head to stare critically Fareeha. “I know it’s a little ridiculous, please don’t ask why I have them since even then I can’t answer.” Fareeha leaned back onto her bag, Angela now noticing how crunchy the movement was. “Can I ask a question?”

         “Besides that one?” Angela noted.

          "Jeez thanks, mom I didn't notice," Fareeha sighed. “What do you mean when you say “biological machine”? You cut yourself off right after saying it the other day.” Fareeha pulled a handful of pretzels out and placed them on her stomach before passing the bag.

         “It’s more of a term I use personally, I’m not sure if you’ll find it that interesting.” Angela accepted the bag of pretzels.

         “I asked didn’t I?” Fareeha’s eyes were pleading for a better answer.

         Angela took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts. “I guess I should start with the AtoZ program since that’s where you heard it.” Fareeha nodded. “It’s basically a translator between non-organic limbs and the brain. It takes the mechanical readings like heat, pressure, and such and converts them into patterns that mimic brain waves. It also has the ability to bypass the spine and go directly to the brain should injuries be severe enough.” Angela stretched out her legs. “As for biological machine, that’s what I would call most of my research. To me, the body is nothing more than a machine so complex it gets put into its own category of mechanics.”

          Angela continued freely and Fareeha would only interrupt to ask more questions or clarify another point. They were half way through the second bag of pretzels, “What about Omnics though? The nanites can heal them even though they are created with non-organic parts, how does that work?”

         “That stuff pisses me off.” Angela said in a sudden flurry of anger. She stared off into the distance swearing. Fareeha backed off unsure what she could have said wrong before Angela came back. “Sorry, nothing to do with you.”- She gained speed- “It’s infuriating. I don’t have a damn clue  _why_  it works on them. It shouldn't by all my records, but it does! Every modification and advancement is different too," Angela's hands were lashing out as punctuation, "Some iteration will work on them and others do absolutely nothing. AND I don't know what's making that happen." Her nostrils flared with a huff. “I can only assume it has something to do with what a soul is made out of since that’s what so many of the omnics’ believe in. But SOULS aren’t science, I can’t test it!” she pulled off her glasses only to rub the bridge of her nose. Angela continued swearing and muttering about how it shouldn’t work.

         “Do you want another pretzel?” Fareeha prodded. From there, topics began to drift and pretzels disappeared. Playful jabs were tossed back and forth as one tried to outwit the other, only to have the topic change and the battle start over. Pretzels were also tossed as Fareeha harassed a pair of pigeons for landing on the pad without having come through one of the two access points. Angela’s cheeks began to hurt from smiling so often. They both took turns shifting sitting positions trying to find a comfortable spot on the cold cement. They managed to only talk about work for a small percentage of the time other topics brushed up on recent news, or even favorite movies and books.

         Fareeha finally stood and offered her hand for Angela to follow, “Pardon my French but,” She proceeded in French. “It’s nap time.”

         “Since when is nap time a swear word?” Angela asked accepting Fareeha’s hand and was pulled up with ease.

         “Have you ever said that to a child? They hate it; you might as well be cursing.”

         “I’ll accept that logic.”

         “May I walk you home in order to prevent any ill fate’s?” Fareeha teasingly half bowed.

         “Only if you’re taking the stairs this time.” Angela bowed back just to stumble to the side. Maybe it was late, even for her.

********

         Angela felt Fareeha lurch to the side for the umpteenth time that night. “Fareeha.” She didn’t respond. “Fareeha.” She said louder and was only met with the sound of haggard breathing. “I know you ignoring me because you know I’m right. You need to stop and rest.”

         Fareeha shook her head determined to keep the same pace. Angela’s back and shoulders ached just from holding on for so long but that was nothing compared to what Fareeha must be feeling. Angela pushed harder trying to stop her stubborn wife. “Stop walking for a just a single minute before you pass out.” She wasn’t listening so Angela was forced to switch tactics.  She pressed her forehead into Fareeha’s temple. “Habbiti, I’m not going to watch you crumble beneath me and die because you’re too stubborn to listen to your own body.” Angela pushed harder knowing it couldn’t be comfortable. “You can’t help if you’re dead; once you fall I go down to. Stop moving you’re done for the now.” Angela commanded.

         Fareeha jerked to a stop, “What do you want me to do, sing a song?” Her jaw was stiff with anger.  

         Ignoring the last comment Angela continued. “Fareeha I’m asking you to stop blaming yourself for once and take a break.”

         “I can’t waste nighttime. What good is resting if we never make it anywhere.” She took a step forward.

         “Dammit Fareeha! Get out of that stupid Amari head of yours and listen! What good is it dying because you over worked yourself before reaching your destination? You need to stop.”

         “Fine!” Fareeha yelled back. But in reality there was a bit a fear tingling up her neck, Angela never yells, and she was probably right. At this pace she was bound to give out. “Fine, let me find a building first, then I will stop.” She felt Angela nod into her shoulder. Fareeha pulled into the nearest hut and carefully worked to set Angela down. Free of the weight she could feel her whole body shaking. Angela shoved the nearly empty canteen at Fareeha’s chest.

         “Drink it.” Angela insisted.

         “I can’t that’s all we have left.”

         Angela’s eyes were piercing through her soul. “It’s all you have left. You’re the one sweating and moving.” Fareeha still tried to push back the water. “I don’t need it. Be selfish, put your needs first since that’s all we can afford right now.”  That seemed to be enough to break through her stubborn shell. Fareeha turned away and drank. It was like drinking gold as it washed through her system, her body couldn’t take it in fast enough. There was barely anything to begin with and there was none now, Fareeha waited for the last drop to fall before closing the container.

         “I’m sorry.” Fareeha croaked out. “She sat with her arms holding her knees tight to her chest staring through the lonesome window. Fear, pain, and guilt crashed around her like rouge drums. “I should have waited for you. It’s.” Her entire body tremored and her head sank. “I couldn’t hold them. It’s my fault. It’s my fault.” Fareeha continued to repeat and mutter her entire body rocking and her breaths losing rhythm.

         She sat inches out of Angela’s reach, “Reeha”-she lulled- “look at me.” Fareeha’s entire body was quivering with each breath; her body ached but it felt more like black-and-white static at this point. “I’m not mad at you, do you understand that? Please, come over here.” Angela begged. A long minute passed before Fareeha finally shifted. She moved to lay her side forehead almost touching Angela’s; between the two of them they were nearly touching the opposite walls of the desolate building.

         “You need to stop blaming yourself for everything that’s happened.”  Angela was able to reach out to her chin and ease her head up, Fareeha’s eyes finally meeting hers. “It’s okay to be weak. Right now you need to rest. In an hour if you ready to keep moving, go ahead. I won’t be awake to stop you.”  Angela let go and turned to stare at the roof. “I’m so tired, habiti.” Angela succumbed to the numbness overtaking her body and fell into a fitful sleep. Eventually, Fareeha followed once her breaths finally evened.

********

         “How you doing?” Fareeha asked leaning against the door frame of Angela’s office.

         "Just working, like you should be," Angela responded flatly not looking up from the mess of paperwork scattered on her desk.

         “To be fair I’m on my way to the training ground. I didn’t see you at lunch so I decided to bring you this.” She held up a square Tupperware with a little plastic fork. “It is one of the better attempts at this recipe if I do say so myself.”

         Angela paused from her work. “What?”

         “Food. You eat that stuff right?”

         “I only photosynthesize by using sheer force of will.”

         “Oh, how could I be so naïve? You can just use it as fertilizer when you take naps in the garden.” Fareeha sauntered over to her desk and set the container down on the only open spot on the desk. “In all seriousness, I doubt coffee and bagels are a suitable source of life.” Fareeha started to back out of the room not wanting to be late to her next meeting.

         “I’m not that bad, I usually eat like twice a day.”

         Fareeha looked like she’d been shot. “Usually?!” She spun around, “Oh, that hurts. I’m afraid you’re going to shrivel away once I turn my head. ”

         “Calm down would you.” Angela popped off the lid and was greeted with a waft of perfection. “Holy shit.” She glanced up at Fareeha then back to the food then up again. “You made this?!”

         “Yeah?”

         "But this, this is like real stuff," Angela said in a state of reverence.

         “I’m scared to know how you’re alive. This is literally the easiest thing my dad taught me to make.”

         “Thanks.” She said entranced. Angela sifted through the meat and veggies with her fork before taking a bite.

         “Eh, no problem.” Fareeha waved a hand and made her way out the office door. Just before it closed she heard Angela speaking to herself. I was strange though that she was so baffled about food. Fareeha had always been surrounded by it why would Angela be so different, wasn’t it a family thing…, oh. Maybe she wasn’t completely aware of it, but Fareeha had made herself a promise.

~~~~~~~

         Angela was pulled out of her world by a knock at the door. She could see Fareeha bouncing outside her window. “What do you need?”

         “I need a professional opinion.”

         “Sure. What are you wondering about?” Fareeha entered and scooted the extra stool up to Angela’s desk. “While I was with Helix I met this Korean woman in Mexico who claims that her bibimbap was the best one in the world.”

         Angela pulled off her glasses. “What’s a bimbap?”

         Fareeha drew a Tupperware from behind her jacket like a western gunslinger and placed it on the table. “Basically anything you could imagine on top of rice with a spicy barbeque sauce thingy.”

         Angela almost tumbled out of her chair reaching out for the container, “You brought more food!” Fareeha released the food to the beast. “What the, is that an egg?”

         “Yeah, that’s like, the best part.” Fareeha snickered as Angela took in the sight before her. “I appreciate your admiration but it is meant to be consumed.”

         “You don’t have to tell me twice.” Angela plowed through the dish like a pack of wolves crammed into one tiny body.

~~~~~~~

         Over the past months, Fareeha had been dropping by almost three times a week just to bring food. Like Pavlov’s doctor Angela would practically start drooling every time Fareeha would walk in at noon. Almost every time there was a story behind the dish.  _“Found it online, I was in Kazakhstan and met a street vendor; my dad always says ‘when in doubt add potatoes’. When I saved a someone’s son she insisted on having me over for dinner.”_   Not only that when she had time Fareeha would stick around on the couch and they would eat together and talk about, anything. Angela was practically sprinting back from the training range after a false alarm. Fareeha was already lying across the couch scrolling through her phone.

         “Howdy.” She said nonchalantly.

         Angela motioned for her to move her feet. “What could you possibly be doing here?”

         Fareeha shrugged. “Dunno, what are you doing here?” Her voice cracked at the stupidity of her own joke. She moved her feet to let Angela sit, as soon as she did Fareeha tossed her legs back up over her lap. “Well, I did happen to bring something. Behold the spaghetti.”  She dropped her voice and displayed the container like a discount perfume model.

          Angela accepted her portion. “No crazy back story today?”

          “It’s just spaghetti? Doesn’t matter, the real question is if you were able to get the results back from the pharmaceutical place.”

          Angela jumped. “I almost forgot about that! I’ll have to check to mail to see if they accepted my new formula.”

          “No fear Doctor Ziggs,” Fareeha slid a puffy envelope from underneath the couch and handed it to her. “I picked it up before I got here.”          

********

         Hana dodged as the training bot took another swipe leaving its side open. She went in for a kick but was knocked down as the bot suddenly switched and grabbed her leg. She hit the mat with a thump that stole her breath. “Dammit.” She screeched slamming a fist down to the ground. A deep breath and she rose again. The bot stood unmoving as it waited for her to attack. This time she went directly for its square head jumping to get more weight behind her punch. It landed stunning the droid and she tried kicking again. This time it was perfect, she spun forcing her knee higher and landed a solid roundhouse on the bot. Her hair whipped around her face and the bots single eye blinked red proving she won the round. A slow laugh bubbled up from her and her entire body shook as the joy spread.

"I said I could beat you," Hana whispered to herself. She had been fighting against this difficulty setting for hours. “I knew it.” She leaned over breathing heavily. “Move to level six.”

         “It’s recommended to master the previous level before moving to a higher rank.” The machine buzzed out.

         “Next level,” She shouted. Hana took her beginning stance and bouncing slightly, the bot attacked first. They sparred for a few moments and the bot landed a blow on her side. It buzzed and reset. They continued for another hour, Hana ending up on the floor more often than standing. “Go again.” Buzz, reset. “Again.” Buzz, reset. Buzz, reset. “I said again!”

         Hana looked up at the roof for the hundredth time that day, vaguely aware of the fact that her nose was bleeding. She slowly sat up to avoid blacking out and wiped her face on the hoodie sleeve leaving a long bloody streak. She stumbled out of the gym and walked down the silent hallway. At some point it had started drizzling outside. The med bay was empty so Hana knocked on the door of the next best thing. “Hana! What have you been doing all day?” Ana immediately started fretting over her and pulled her into the room.

         “I don’t think I broke anything.” She slumped onto the bed.

         “That’s beside the point. Your jacket is filthy; you need to be more careful when training alone.” Ana peeled off the hoodie and went to her bathroom. She returned with a wet cloth and some nanite cream. “Now come here.” She began cleaning the blood from Hana’s face and later worked on applying the cream to a blooming black eye. Hana stopped paying attention after a while her eyes semi-focused on the picture hanging by Ana’s desk. It was Fareeha and Angela both lounging on the coveted recliner in the break room. Angela was curled under Fareeha's arm nose in a book. Meanwhile she was dead asleep her head resting on top of Angela’s.

         When Ana left she slumped back on the bed, from there she could look at the ceiling fan instead. At least now she was too tired to cry.

********

         “Come on don’t be dramatic about this.” Fareeha felt someone lightly slapping her cheek. “The first one is always a bit disorientating but you get used to it. She finally opened her eyes to see Lena framed against the blindingly white sky.

         “What just happened?”

         “Hey doc! She’s back up.” Lena yelled over her shoulder before helping Fareeha sit back up. “Congratulations Pharah, You’ve just died.”

         “I’m sorry what?” She glanced at her hands briefly before noticing the red spattering in the snow around here. Fareeha panicked, “Wait, what!?” She could feel the bullets passing through her tearing her to shreds, yet now here she is in the snow. A gentle but un-naturally warm hand tilted her head up and she was met with bright eyes.

         “I know this is a bit disorientating Fareeha but you need to calm down." Angela was kneeling beside her, her body radiating a subtle glow. "You just disabled their turret but in doing so you were killed. Resurrecting repairs the damage so quickly your body gets confused as to what is happening. Just breathe for a minute. I would also recommend you stop yelling since I already have a headache.”

         “How?” Fareeha whispered her voice hoarse and shaking. "I wasn't really dead, right? Or you wouldn't have been able to do all that right. Like the stuff you said on the roof?"

         “Something like that.” Angela sat down rubbing her temples. Lena passed the message that the rest of the team had cleared their target building and the mission was a success. This was the first strike mission Angela had been a part of since the recall and it had not been treating her kindly. She checked all of Fareeha’s vitals one last time. “You should be fine. We just need to wait for the rest of the team to return then we can head home.” She stood and teetered. “If you have questions save them for later. I’m going to go throw up now.”

         “Is she serious?” Fareeha asked Lena.

         “She literally puts her entire body into overdrive to create massive amounts of nanites. You try generating that much power in a second, believe me, that isn't the worse side effect.” Fareeha’s eyes widened and she fell back into the snow. “Just don’t think about it too much love.”

         "Come in," Angela called out after the short knock on her door. Fareeha timidly entered.

         “Are you busy?”

         “Just finishing the medical reports from the last mission. Do you need something?”

         Fareeha moved to the desk placing a fresh cup of coffee on it, she backed away one hand rubbing the back of her neck. "Are you doing, okay? I just want to apologize for what happened on the last mission…”

         “Oh right.” Angela waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t worry about that, I’m fine.” She threw away the cold remains of her last coffee in turn for the fresh one.

          Fareeha sat on the couch hoping to make herself smaller. “Are you sure, I just..”

         “Fareeha seriously I’m okay. I built that prosthetic specifically for the generation of nanites in case of extreme circumstances.” Angela rolled her chair closer and reached out for Fareeha’s shoulder. “You wanna know what’s really weird? I’ve gotten so used to you being a dork that the sudden shift to stoic captain was a bit disorientating.”

        “How is that relevant?”

        “You go from eating an entire watermelon in one sitting to stoic captain in seconds. Fareeha, I have no problem feeling nauseous for a few minutes if it means a team member can live, it’s just part of my job.” Angela gave her a final pat, “Don’t blame yourself, you did an excellent job leading that mission. And if you were to die, no one else will bring me coffee.”

             Fareeha finally broke from her solemn mood and smiled. “You always bring it back to coffee don’t you.”

            “Pretty much.” Angela slowly rolled back to her desk suddenly refocusing on a new message on her screen. “Well, that’s interesting. Come read this, it’s relevant to you.” She sipped her coffee skimming through detailed reports of the last mission.  Apparently Winston had compiled that and other data to create strategies and flight patterns specifically for the two of them in a combat situation. Winston had left a note at the top of the list.

           _Angela I know you would rather stay out of the strike missions but we believe that you and ‘Pharah’ would create one of the most solid defensive and offensive pair should you combine skills. Even with the relief missions, combining your skills could increase mobility and efficiency accessing the wounded._

           “Thoughts?” Angela asked

           “I just wonder if I got a fancy note on my E-mail too. Fareeha shrugged, “I have no problem flying more, it gets me out of the team exercises.”   

  “Then it looks like you’re being promoted to Taxi-cab, Captain.”

             Fareeha responded out of the blue in complete monotone, “Beep, beep, medic trucker.” Angela snorted covering her mouth quickly; hoping Fareeha didn’t see the few droplets escape her mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying stuff out. Don't forget to leave your questions, comments, and complaints below. Here at mango enterprises, we know that the customer is sometimes right. Thanks for shopping. But yeee, next chapter moves back to the sadness. (I don't really know when it will be out, my schedule is kinda wonky at the moment.)


	10. Delirium

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for this coming out a whomping month later. Yikes. I actually had time to get it done two weeks ago, but I had also been playing an excess amount of Fallout. Then suddenly I was hit with a bus of responsibility and everything hurts. (Aka. Full-time school + Working an average of six nights a week due to current understaffing. So my days off turn into homework and accidentally binge watching all of Wynonna Earp. Which was a fantastic show and I'm probably going to rewatch it soon?) *Hopefully* work schedule will chill the frick-frackle out soon and I won't be a walking blob of ouch. (side-side note: I feel like I forgot how to write, if there's anything weird just give me a holler.)

      Fareeha knew she was getting weaker. Angela had barely moved since yesterday and the fact that she was refusing to eat didn't help. Deep down she knew it was the only way they would have a chance of making it further, but that didn't make it hurt any less watching her fade. According to the halo, she had fractured quite a few vertebrae in her lower back and her leg wasn’t looking much better. The implants, on the other hand, seemed to be working in sputtering bouts that helped keep the pain down, but even with that Angela could only talk for an hour or two before succumbing to exhaustion. It was taking far too long to travel as well. Fareeha had originally guessed that it would take three to four days to reach the city. By the end of day four she had yet to see anything on the horizon. She wasn't about to give up though. There had to be a reason they hadn't died yet, and it sure as hell wasn't because they were meant to die a hundred miles down the street.

  
      The moon was sinking and it looked like she would be forced to stop again once the prevailing heat took hold again. Fareeha looked up from her feet to begin searching for some kind of shelter in the near distance, there was a greater collection of buildings than there had been in the past so that wouldn't be too much of a problem. Fareeha looked to the falling moon to judge how much time was left, but something was off. The lower edge of the sky tortilla had a bite taken out of the edge. She stopped for a minute to drink in the sight before her. Karma may be a bitch, but it still had high aesthetic standards. A cluster of tall buildings and skyscrapers broke into the sky. The shadows they cast crawled out beaconing her to come closer. She wasn't going to stop tonight. It might be a stretch to reach it before noon but Fareeha had more to hope for than she had had in days.

  
********

  
      The sun had been beating down on her for far too long. Fat drops of sweat still lingered on her brow, but they were here. Fareeha had stopped in the lobby of some sort of high-end apartment complex. After placing Angela on the dusty couch she had collapsed beside it to finally catch her breath. Fareeha dropped the remaining supplies and closed her eyes in an attempt to shut out the exhaustion. Her head was buzzing but she eventually stood ignoring her complaining body. "I'll be back soon Amar," She kissed Angela's forehead, hoping she could still feel it.

  
      She began to check in all the nearby closets and shelves, so far they were well packed with cleaning supplies and brooms. Behind the desk up front there was a narrow stairway filled with graffiti. Reading some of the phrases slashed in the walls it became apparent this was an employee only section and that someone named Harlee was the cutest server. She made into the dingy little room with torn up couches and a fridge. The fridge was full of un-identifiable sludge, she slammed it shut immediately after opening it and releasing a horrendous smelling fog. Fareeha was able to raid the cupboards and find a few thousand calories worth of still edible food in the form of stale granola and a few cans that didn’t show any sign of damage. She nervously paced the kitchen hoping to find any kind of water. All that was left to check in the basement was the mechanical room she peeked her head in expecting to find nothing and was met with a wall of boilers and suspended sports drinks.

  
      “God is real,” she thought, “And he looks like a decrepit vending machine.”

  
      She made short work of the thin plastic barrier with the assistance of a discarded crowbar. She quickly picked out the least caffeinated bottles and made her way back upstairs. Angela hadn't moved since she had been set down and her face was flushed. Fareeha knelt by the sofa and gently put her head on Angela's chest. Her breaths were so shallow her stomach hardly moved, and her heart beat wasn't much stronger but it was beating to quickly and erratically to be healthy.

  
      "Ziggy," Fareeha lightly shook her shoulder. "Hey, Angela." Her eyes flitted open just to close again. Fareeha's hopes soared just to fall again as she remained unresponsive. Fareeha sighed and carefully adjusted Angela’s head before tugging her lower lip down with a thumb. She cracked open a neon bottle and poured some of the liquid into the lid. From there she could spoon the small portions of water into her open mouth. She repeated the process over and over, pausing every few minutes to check Angela’s breathing and ensure that nothing was getting in her lungs. The cap barely held a tablespoons worth of fluid, Fareeha continued until the bottle was half empty before trying to wake Angela again. (It was hard enough to do that under normal circumstances.) Once again there was no response, Fareeha hated being helpless but there wasn’t anything more she could do. “If you’re not awake soon I will start singing. In German. You know that’s my worst singing language,” She ran her fingers through her hair. “To many awkward and clunky words to make good, bad parody’s.”

  
      Even though water was essential it could be just as dangerous to over-hydrate after going so long without it. As much as Fareeha wanted to stay by her side there still was something else she needed to check, and leaving for a few hours could help Angela begin to process the new intake. It took some time to find a set of stairs that would lead to the roof. As far as she could see this was the only building with an antenna that hadn’t been destroyed yet, but the question was if it could function still. Fareeha trekked up the flights sweating bullets since the cramped stairway was the equivalent of an unnecessarily tall oven. After a few stories she was forced to sit and catch her breath before lightheadedness could take over. At least she could watch dust float through the air from here.

  
      Three breaks and an entire water bottle later Fareeha made it to the final floor and found the door covered in yellow tape and no trespassing signs. It squealed open, the electric locks useless. Fareeha passed through the field of satellite dishes to the radio tower that soared into the sky. The gray box on the bottom leg of the tower was worn and sun-bleached; she pulled the small latch on the control box to find all of the wiring intact. A huge grin split across her face, and also her lower lip. “Now that’s just rude,” Fareeha muttered wiping away the small drops of blood.

  
      She spent as much time as she could climbing around the antenna, clearing debris and working to rewire it to connect directly to a radio. The sun was merciless as it beat down and reflected off all off every surface. Fareeha straddled one of the cross beams as she used her shirt to wipe a sheet of sweat from her brow. Leaning back she was able to see where the horizon met the ground in a peaceful void; if this didn’t work there were worse places to die, but dying in an air-conditioned room with chapstick still seemed like a better option. Many of the wires had frayed and rotted. She was forced to splice and combine all sorts of odd sections to create something that had a chance of working. She clambered down quickly to avoid burning her bare hands on the beams. Fareeha inspected the work one last time before heading back down, she was assuming a lot about how the antenna was originally built but there was still a chance.

  
********

  
      “An-ge-la,” Fareeha bopped her nose a few times. “I know you're awake oh stubborn chocolate goblin.” After descending it had taken her a few minutes to catch her breath and cool down enough to move again. She had spoon fed Angela another few liters and she had finally begun to move again. “Heeeeeeeeeey.” Fareeha flicked both of her ears like a cat playing with a doorstop. Being a leading expert in the field of waking up Angela, annoyance tended to be the second best choice. “Angela,”-Flip, flip, flip- “You are going to wake up and eat this entire stash of food. Angie, Angei, Argentina, Angelaaaa.”

  
      Her brow crinkled and Angela let out a small groan barely moving her head. “Yes. Come on doctor twinkle wings, you’re almost here.” Fareeha toned down the flicking and settled with cupping her hands on her cheeks.

  
      Her voice finally cracked out in a jumbled mess, as far as Fareeha could decipher it was something along the lines of. “What the hell did you just call me?”  
Fareeha could feel her chest explode as her heart attempted to leap free. She hastily pressed a kiss on her temple trying to expel the sudden surge of energy.      

      “I admit to nothing.” Fareeha was practically bouncing as she handed off an open granola bar and waited for Angela to come to her senses. So far all she had done was squint critically at the food sitting absently in her hand.

  
      “Not dead yet?” Angela asked rhetorically before looking at the ceiling again. “But with you looking like an oversized puppy perhaps I am.”

  
      “Perhaps you should look at your surroundings again.” Fareeha was still kneeling at her side beaming. “We made it to the city early this morning; from what I can tell the antenna should work we just need a signal.”

  
      “Wait, really?!” Angela jumped just to gasp at the shooting pain the movement caused.

  
      “Hey, try not to do that.” Fareeha helped to lean her back down without disturbing any of her injury’s, but that was an impossible task. "Your halo is still showing critical for your back and leg. It's best you don't move"

  
      “It’s going to have to be amputated.”

  
      “I wouldn’t jump to any conclusions.”

  
      “Fareeha. I know you’re always optimistic but that doesn’t always help. This is something I know far more about than I want to. I haven’t felt or been able to move anything past my waist in days, with the broken bone it highly likely it wasn’t set properly and that would lead to poor circulation and a plethora of other issues…”

  
      “Okay, you don’t have to list everything.” Fareeha pointed down to Angela’s hand. “You should really eat that, you haven’t had anything in days.”  
She glanced down in shock wondering how food had ended up in her hands. “What kind of witchcraft is this?” Fareeha couldn’t help but smile, Angela’s tired voice almost sounded the same as her drunk voice.

  
      “Just eat it. I’ve only checked one room far but we should have enough food and water for a few more days assuming there is more in this building.”

  
      She took a bite of the expired granola cringing at the stale taste. “You’re just saying that so I won’t try to eat your legs.”

  
      “I’m pretty sure carbon fiber is the last thing you would want to eat.” She brushed a stray hair from Angela’s face. “I hope you don’t mind that if destroy your halo, I’m going to have to mix it with what’s still working in my helmet if we want to get a working radio.”

  
      “It’s fine. Not like it is expensive one-of-a-kind-tech that I had to custom build, I have six more sitting in a drawer.”

  
      Fareeha rolled her eyes and leaned close enough that their noses were touching. “You didn’t say no, so I’m doing it anyway. Kiss for good luck?” Angela grinned and tilted her chin up to be met by Fareeha.

  
      "If kisses really were lucky do how do you think we ended up here? There should have been enough luck stockpiled that we landed in a five-star restaurant." Angela asked as Fareeha settled on the floor.

  
      "You don't count it lucky that you didn't get chopped in half?"

  
      "I would call that the fact that I was still over saturated with nanites and they most likely healed a mass amount of damage from the initial blow."

  
      "So luck then?" Fareeha wedged one of the screwdrivers into the hairline crack on the side of the halo and forced it apart. "Remind me again how this is organized." She asked prodding through the exposed insides.

  
      "All of the blue wiring is for optics and running the screens and medical analysis. Most of the radio equipment would be on the right side and the black wiring."

  
      Fareeha located the receiver chip in the bundle of dark wiring. "One last thing." She moved preparing to cut out the piece. "Look away as I destroy your only child."

  
      "They will be missed." She stated with dramatically. "You'll have to remind me to be mad at you later."

  
      "Yes, ma'am." Fareeha unceremoniously cut and stripped all the wires that hadn't been damaged in the fall. Between this and the Raptora helmet there should be enough circuits to create a signal, then she would just have to find a way to hardwire into the antenna, and then hope there was someone close enough to hear.

  
      As she tinkered away dismantling the separate helmets Angela began tiredly humming off tune or attempting to offer words of encouragement. "Yeah, you build that thing. I can't see your face from here but I bet you're biting your cheek since you're cute as shit when you're focused. You're doing great keep building, babe, bu-baabe. Babe de babe." She began vaguely humming 'there goes my baby.' "Wait, remember that place we went to that you could get bison burgers? How long do you think it would take to grow a moose farm? Like to domesticate and breed and be able to maintain moose meat sales?"

  
      "Angie?" Fareeha turned.

  
      "What?"

  
      "You doing okay back there?"

  
      "Just fine, dandy in fact."

  
      "Are you sure about that?"

  
      "I might be a little bit bored and it's not every day I get to sleep for 20 hours. You done yet?"

  
      “Surprisingly in the twenty minutes since I’ve started working I’ve yet to build a radio from scratch. You try.” Fareeha tossed a handful of broken wires over her shoulder and was satisfied to hear a surprised squeak from behind.

  
      “Don’t throw stuff!” Angela said while trying to shove the bits down the back of Fareeha’s shirt.

  
      “Hey! Some of the ends are sharp.” She danced away from the couch to escape and get any remaining pieces to fall thru her shirt. She whipped back to be met with Angela attempting to hold an innocent face. He innocent face cracked as she erupted into a fit of giggles.

      "You looked like some sad bird hopping away." She barely managed to push out between breaths. Fareeha couldn't help but follow and let a small chuckle out a well. Soon they were both breathless from the well-needed boost. Angela's eyes seemed to light up the room looking brighter than they had in almost a week.

  
      "You have such a stupid humor," Fareeha said finally crawling back.

  
      "Thanks." She grinned. Moments like this you wish would last forever. But the perfect ones always have to be cut the shortest. Angela's face suddenly dropped and she swore softly. "It keeps cutting out." Before Fareeha could ask she answered. "You should get back to work. The prosthetic is barely working to keep the pain and swelling down. It's bound to go out sooner than later."

  
      Fareeha nodded her heart hurting from snapping back into a solemn mood. "Well, at least we can have dinner together still." She passed another item from their stash of food up. From there the room fell into a silence. Fareeha worked until the sun set and she could no longer see the intricate circuits. She assumed Angela had fallen asleep much earlier due to the fact that her hand had stopped running through her hair.

  
********

  
      She was awakened by rattling. Fareeha woke up to a dark room. She bolted up to look at the mass amounts of sand and debris racing past the windows and blocking out nearly all of the morning light. What did make it through the chaos had a dark red glow. The windows rattled and bent in again fighting against the aggressing gusts. There had been storms like this back home, but Egypt had a system of barriers and hard light shields to prevent much damage. Fareeha walked to the window entranced by the swirling patterns.

  
      "Any clue what time it is?" Angela's voice had broken her from the spell.

  
      "No later than 9 or 10, but that's just a guess."

  
      "I'm surprised it didn't wake you up sooner. It's been a few hours already. But I'm assuming you didn't sleep yesterday since you're a workaholic."

  
      "Says you, doctor three days straight without leaving the office."

  
      "I've cut down on doing that in that last couple of years."-she then muttered under her breath- "Due to your nagging." They both paused after window broke close enough that they could hear the shatter over the storm. “Perhaps you shouldn’t stay standing over there. The last thing we need is for you to become a glass pincushion.”

  
      “At least I would be a cute pincushion.” She said backing away from the window.

  
      Angela reached out her hand as Fareeha came to the center of the room. “You’re priorities are questionable, as per usual.” Fareeeha took her hand kissing her knuckles before kneeling down. “Were you able to get a radio running yet?”

  
      “Almost. I’m not sure how long the battery will last with my helmet being damaged, but I should be able to get it to work with a few more hours.” She squinted down at the jumble of wires. “But with the storm, I can hardly see what I’m working with. I don’t know..Shit..” She trailed off suddenly aware of sand forcing its way under the door in spurts. “Storms like this could last for days, stop, and start again at a moment’s notice. If that happens we need to get a signal out during the window of time,”

  
      "Don't worry about it if you might make a mistake," Angela interjected. “We’ve made it this long haven’t we? I would almost encourage you to search more of the building. If the storms could last days we will need more supplies to wait it out.”

  
      “Are you sure you’re okay staying here alone?”

  
      “It’s not like there will be any door-to-door salesmen today.” She ended with a weak smile. “If you find any chocolate I might marry you.”  
      Fareeha raised an eyebrow, “You might? Well Ziggs, I have some bad news for you then.”

  
      “Fine. Marry you again, but this time we just get a dozen cheesecakes and skip the dinner. Like marriage squared, 2.0. Do your thing and I’ll plan.”

  
      She chuckled. “Yes, ma'am. I'll come check back in a few hours.” With that she kissed Angela’s temple and left. It was nearly pitch black in the stairways but she had counted the steps before, it’s not like there was anything else to do when having to go all the way to the roof top. Twelve steps, turn twelve more.

  
      It took some blind wall groping to find the door handle but she found it after painfully ramming her hip into it. The hallways were just as eerie as the lobby with the dim red glow. Most of the doors hung open one on the end of the hallway swung wildly and had spurts of sand flying through dusting the entire hallway. Fareeha began searching the rooms one by one, the first floor seemed to have been looted already. The cupboards were empty and blankets and ratty sleeping bags were strewn across every open surface. The second floor followed the same pattern, everything useful stripped out and signs that too many people had been calling this building home.

  
      The higher the floor the more broken windows there seemed to be; as there was less protection from the surrounding buildings. Eventually, Fareeha was forced to rip apart a curtain to create a mask to breathe through without inhaling ten pounds of sand. After the fifth floor she finally began to find items of use. Unopened water bottles that had rolled under the couch, cans that had been forgotten, even some clothing items that were relatively clean still. It was if most people became discouraged by the pitiful amounts on the first floors and gave up on the building. She caught her reflection in a grimy mirror and laughed at the image. A shower was well overdue and the mask made her look like a thief from an old western. Fareeha’s stolen backpack was still filling up to slowly, one more room on this floor and she would head back down accepting defeat for the day. It was not just eerie going through all the rooms Fareeha felt uncomfortable, they really didn’t have time to be waiting. Each room she went into just made the feeling sink deeper.

  
      She tried the door, it didn’t budge. It was most likely rusted shut, right? She tried the door again, ramming her shoulder into it as she pushed. Again it didn't move. If this door wasn’t moving that means no one else had been able to get in for quite some time, this room could be a goldmine. Fareeha dropped her bag in the hall and took a deep breath. She kicked just below the knob, the whole door shuddered. She kicked again and the door slammed open ripping apart the wooden frame and falling from one of the hinges.

  
      “I would like to thank the army of Egypt for teaching me to break into houses….” Fareeha muttered as she stepped over the wooden shrapnel on the floor.

  
      Compared to all the other rooms this one was pristine, little to no dust, blankets were folded on the back of the couch, a tray full of cat food pushed against the wall, the kitchen had stacks of brand new military rations in bright silver foil... Fareehas head whipped back to the door, the frame had ripped out above the handle, right where a deadbolt would have been. She barely had time to finish swearing before another voice appeared behind her.

  
      “Don’t move,” and a metallic click.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I really just refer to the moon as a sky tortilla? Yes, and I regret nothing.


	11. Tick-Tock

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remind me to stop making promises. Every time I do that my brain turns to a potato in a dryer, lots of clucky-thunk noises and general potatoeyness. I also feel like my writing style changes every twenty minutes but maybe thats because 80% of it gets done after 10pm. ◉_◉

_Thirty-four_

_Thirty-five_

_Thirty-six_

_Thirty-seven_

_Thirty-eight_

_Thirty-nine_

_Forty_

_Forty-one_

_Forty-_

The windows rattled, bulging and warping precariously as another gust whipped by.

_One_

_Two_

_Three_

_Four_

_Five_

She wasn’t really sure when she had started counting, it was almost a habit at this point. People walking down the street, light bulbs flickering, the time between lightning strikes, the number of telephone poles between two towns. Storms had always the most interesting of all, they were the least predictable the best you could get were averages between the flares of lighting. Angela sighed slowly rubbing the bridge of her nose. She was trying to stay awake until Fareeha came back but, that was only resulting in a budding headache. It had been what, an hour or two at most. That was assuming she was counting the seconds properly, since every individual perceives time at a different rate. God, that was topic that Satya loved to bring up, what a brilliant woman. I'm mean seriously, she built her own arm with no experience other than fantastic spatial awareness.

“Stop thinking.” Angela winced as each spiraling thought created a steadier ponding against her skull. The prosthetic was barely generating enough to keep her conscious, but it was like fighting a forest fire with a leaking garden hose. But counting, counting never hurts. She fell back into the pattern measuring the gaps between the gusts until sleep pulled her forgivingly away.

~~~

It was rare when storms this big overtook the country. Thunder rippled across the black sky and the rain couldn't hit the ground fast enough. She watched the fat drops streaking through the searchlights posited on the corners of the building.  Although Angela hid under the narrow roof some drops would occasionally hit her outstretched feet. She had even brought up a massive thermos of hot chocolate just to watch the lightning. She had become so entranced by the rhythmic patterns she didn't hear the steps coming up the stairway. She almost choked when the door suddenly swung open right next to her.

“Hey.” Fareeha grinned down at a now deer-ifyed in the headlights Angela.

“What have you been doing all day?” Angela finally asked breaking from her shock.

“Looking for you.” The sky lit up with multiple lightning bolts at once, Angela shivered. Fareeha didn’t hesitate before unzipping her jacket and dropping it down. “Here, how long have you been up here? I’ve been checking your hiding spots all night.”

Angela accepted the jacket pulling it around her shoulders. “Just an hour or so, and I don’t hide. I just tend to avoid awkward small talk, people, and ahhh, people. Do you want some hot chocolate?” She revealed the enormous thermos sitting at her side.

“Sure.” Fareeha stepped out of the doorway and slid down the wall next to her. Angela passed the mug and noticed something odd.

“Reeha, how many hoodies do you have?”

“I was wearing two today.” - she took the thermos- “Or do you mean in general? I have about eight on base, I think you stole one, there’s a couple at my dad’s house,” She trailed off and ended with uncertainty. “About fifteen, unless you also want to count the jackets without hoods.”

“Oh my God.” Angela snorted. “You don’t even know? It’s almost worse than your sunglasses collection.”

Fareeha bumped against her shoulder. “Don’t act like you’re any better, how many lab coats do you own? Thirty?”

“Not anymore! You and Hana sewed the pockets shut on three of them.” Angela fought back. “My glasses were still inside one of them!”

“You’ve only found three so far!? That’s unquestionably a sign you have too many.”

"What do you mean only three? How many pockets have been killed?" Fareeha bit her lip and shook her head. "Fareeha, how many lab coats did you mess with," She growled. At that, Fareeha broke into a maniacal spew of laughter. "You don't deserve this." Angela swiped the thermos of hot chocolate away and took an angry sip. When she looked back she was only met with Fareeha's dark eyes still crinkled with laughter.

Angela flipped the hood of the jacket up hoping to hide her blush. They both sat in a comfortable silence watching the rainfall through the lights and bounce onto the helipad. Eventually, Fareeha stole back the hot chocolate it made its home in between the two. Her hand still rested on the ground next to it. Surely it meant nothing, she was just reading to far right? But what if she wanted it to mean something… Angela sighed and let her head fall onto Fareeha’s shoulder. A bolt raced through the sky. “There’s always something truly beautiful about rain isn’t there?” Fareeha asked seeming not to mind being promoted to a pillow.

“Yeah.” She whispered.

“Are you still cold?”

“Just a little bit.” Fareeha brought one arm around her back and pulled her ever so slightly closer. Angela was lying about the cold, she felt as if her entire body was about to combust.

~~~

Again the rattling windows jolted her into a semi-conscious state. “Guess I’m still here.”

********

 

Fareeha's stomach was just about ready to leave her body, and possibly the building too. She stared solemnly at the stacks of rations that could have been lifesaving.  
  
"You're one of them aren’t you?" The voice declared with steel. She sounded young.  
  
"I'm not here to hurt anyone. My," she paused wondering how much information was safe to give. "My friend is injured and we are stuck here. If you go downstairs you'll see"  
  
"Bullshit." She interrupted. "He sent you to find me didn't he?" Her voice wavered once more. "How did you know I was here?!"  
  
Frantic. Scared. That's what it was. "I'm going to take my mask off and turn around, okay? I don't know who you’re talking about." As soon as she moved her hands the girl yelled again.  
  
"I said don't move! I will shoot." There it was a metallic click, again. If she had a gun that meant she had just loaded it a second time, which would cause it to jam. Or, she was bluffing.  
  
"What do you want me to do then? If I can't move we are going to be standing here for quite a while."  
  
"I, uhh, don’t sass me,” She paused as if trying to create a reasonable plan. “Shit, tripod get back here!" There was a weak meow and Fareeha watched a cat run awkwardly towards her from the side of the room. "You stupid cat, don't fraternize with the enemy!" Fareeha heard her take a step forward to intervene with the animal.  
  
She counted to three and spun intercepting the girl. She was already off balance trying to nudge the feline aside; Fareeha helped that fact by sweeping one foot out from under her. She caught her fall easier than one catches a cold. Within seconds Fareeha had her arm twisted behind her back. She had only been holding a large kitchen knife. "Noo! Get off me!" She continued squirming trying to break free and even tried stomping down on Fareeha's foot a few times.  
  
"Would you just hold still? I don't want to hurt you but you might do it yourself if you keep moving." She paused momentarily with a growl before turning to glare. She was nearly Hana's age, barely 20 possibly much younger, older? God it's hard to tell age throughout that entire decade.  
  
"I'm trying to help my friend, that's not a lie. We are stuck here just like you. And I for one really want to get back home. I'm going to let go now, if you try anything I will have to hold you down with something much stronger than an arm lock." She felt the girl relax and finally let go.  
  
She took a step away without turning. "Do you really think you can get out of here?" She crossed her arms with one hand restlessly drawing circles on her elbow.  
  
Fareeha pulled down the makeshift mask before approaching her. "We have a few ideas left. If you're willing to trust me maybe we all can make it out. If you go downstairs I can prove I'm not lying."  
  
“Chhavi”  
  
"What."  
  
"That's my name. Although most people call me Chia."  
  
Fareeha stepped forward offering her hand. "Fareeha. Glad to meet someone that's not trying to kill me for once."  
  
"But,"  
  
"I could tell you weren't going to do very much damage from the first sentence." She waved a beckoning arm. "Do you mind if I take some of these supplies downstairs? We need to talk."

“If it will help me get out of here take whatever you need.”

“Cool.” Fareeha grave an awkward two thumbs up before grabbing a case of water. The wobbly cat immediately began following her on the way out.  
  
"Traitor," Chia murmured.  
  
"What did you say?" Fareeha called from down the hall.  
  
"Nothing." She yelled back grabbing an assortment of food. "My cats just an asshole.”  
  
“Aren’t they all?”

  
"Hey, I found mini you." Fareeha plopped the three-legged cat on Angela's stomach. "I also remember reading an article about cat purrs having medicinal properties, so pet away."  
  
"Fareeha if you brought me a stray with fleas,"  
  
"Tripod does not have fleas!" The new voice called out finally catching up with Fareeha. "He is a well-groomed lady killer."  
  
Angela's gaze shot from the stubby-tailed beast to the girl who was still just out of sight. "Oh yeah, I also found a friend." Fareeha causally threw out.  
  
"He may be flawed but its part of his charm," Chia came around the couch finally entering Angela's view. She dropped everything she was carrying stunned, eyes wide flashing back and forth from Fareeha and Angela. "You! You're friends with Dr. Ziegler?!"  
  
"Yes?" Fareeha responded slowly.  
  
"Friends?" Angela asked.

“Ohhhhh, ohhh ho hoooooo,” Chia paced the room making an assortment of odd noises occasionally pushing her long dark hair back over her shoulder.

“How do you always manage to find the weird ones.” Angela inquired, as the cat kept trying to stick a paw in her mouth.

Fareeha flumped down on the armrest just above her. “Like you?” She only rolled her eyes while trying to combat the cat that had never heard of personal space. They watched Chia pace a few more anxious circles before she veered and sat on the coffee table in the middle of the room.

“So,” She breathed deeply tapping the table, “This is weird. Like I’ve always wanted to meet you but,” She slowly looked up from the ground fully taking in the state Angela was in. “You’re the hurt one she was talking about.”

“You sure talk about me quite a bit for just being _friends_.”

Fareeha gracefully let her hand fall in the middle of Angela’s face. “Stop it.”

“Maybe I would if we were friends." Her voice was slightly off due to her nose being flattened, but the smirk was still going strong. "You're just jealous I'm more famous than you."

“As if! 27 pseudonyms hardly counts as fame, If I was to be anywhere near Oasis and the surrounding city people would be flooding in to get an autograph from Egypt’s star captain.”

Eventually tripod became bored with his endeavors of personal space invasion and moved back to his owner’s side. "Welcome back you weirdo." She said distractedly to the kitten. She cleared her throat awkwardly realizing the last part was out loud. Chia awkwardly bit her lip as she waited for the two of them to stop bickering. “So,” She cleared her throat, “You said there was a way to get out.” They both came to a stop and sighed at the same time.

“Maybe.” They said at the same time Angela sighed and nudged Fareeha, a sign that she should do the talking. “We might have a working radio in a few days, and can attempt to signal someone but that’s really all we have left.” Fareeha looked glumly at the pile of circuits that had been set aside on the floor. “Angela can’t move, due to a broken leg and a pretty nasty back injury that’s paralyzed everything below the waist. None of those problems are really healing and I would say every day we have to wait is putting her at greater risk. Would you say that’s right?” Angela nodded. “You have been doing a little better since we got here but that’s probably since I haven’t had to move you in the last two days and I hate we have to wait for a sandstorm of all things."

“I think it’s been easing up.” Angela piped in, “The average time has dropped from every twenty seconds to about a minute and a half. It shouldn’t last more than a day at this rate.”

 Chia had no clue what she could have meant by that but Fareeha hummed as if this information had deeper meaning. “You’re saying the only chance you have is that mess of wires?”

“Yep. Unless you had a plan, with that much food stored I assume you did.”

“Whatever I was trying to do is gone out the window. I was going to wait a few months and sneak back when they brought in a new batch of soldiers. But the entire army left weeks ago.”

“You were with the army that was trashing this city? Fareeha said slowly not wanting to sound too critical.

"As for how I got here, I was sweet-talked by a stupid boy and eventually followed him into this crap storm of a political cover-up. They end up using me as a field medic, he gets promoted and turns into a massive creep and I’m forced to stay here or be hunted down for committing treason just for showing up. Turns out they are not fighting for protection but more like to fill the local leader’s pockets with cash. It took me weeks to bring everything out here since I could only sneak so much out of the camp without people noticing. He takes that as I’ve been cheating on him and frolicking around camp at night and,"  
  
"Meow," Tripod angrily meowed as Chia had begun letting her anger seep into his pets.  
  
"Sorry,” at this point she had almost curled into a tight ball with her knees tucked under her chin. “I just had to, get away. I wasn’t even supposed to be here, I had such a good job lined up once I graduated. But stupid, stupid,” She didn’t finish before dropping into a fit of sobs.

Fareeha was at her side in moments attempting to slow the waterworks. "Hey, you don't have to talk about anything you don't want to." The young stranger had no second thoughts about burring herself in Fareeha’s shoulder as her entire body trembled.

"I'm going to get snot all over you," Chia announced half-heartedly.

“Well, I’ve had worse.” She glanced up at Angela who nodded a silent approval. “We’re going to try our best to get out of here. When the storm lets up I’m going to need all the help I can get, alright? Get some rest while you can.” Fareeha continued supporting her as she calmed down. Sitting this close she began to notice other details like a cluster of faint scars on her check and fading bruises scattered on her arms.

Eventually Chia selected a couch and slumped down exhausted, she fell asleep within minutes. “Did you eat anything while I was gone?” Fareeha asked kneeling by Angela.

“A bit. You should take your own advice, Liebling. Get some rest, you need to be ready to go as soon as the storm stills. I’ll wake you up, if your spider senses don’t do that first.”

“A normal sleep schedule is not the same as spider senses." Fareeha dipped down to kiss her forehead. "Don't push yourself too hard Angela; we'll get out of here."

********

Hana shrugged off her headset and stood finally stretching out her complaining muscles. One day short of a week since they had gotten back. The only thing between streaming was napping, and eating meals with questionable nutritional value, so far she had raised enough to buy a small fleet of yachts. All of that was being sent out to help relocate all of the refugees they had worked to save. She prowled into the kitchen in search of a late night snack. It had taken a few days before she could come back to the house without feeling like she had to tiptoe in order to not disturb any ghosts. Emily had dropped by earlier that day and drop off an entire pan of homemade mac’ and cheese. It was stuff to die for.

There was still silent debate on the base of whether or not to hold a funeral. It’s not something they could do publicly, the loss of two world-known figures at the same time was hard to cover. While there were some legal loopholes and countries turning a blind eye Overwatch was still very much illegal. But no one was quite ready to admit the loss in private either.

The pops and crackles coming from the microwave were enough to snap Hana back to reality. She quickly pulled the bowl out and dropped it on the counter before it could incinerate her fingers. The cheesy aroma filled the room and she quickly dug in at the command of her stomach.

“Motha! Hot hot hoowaa.” She danced around breathing flames and attempting to not spit out a molten pile of goo. Using as little finger as possible she transported the weaponized bowl to the bar. Looks like noodles would have to wait as well. Lucio was going to drop by in a few hours and they would start streaming again. They were going to attempt a mega-man speed run in hopes to bring a completely different crowd of donators in. It definitely felt good to be doing something productive again.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also have really no clue on when I will have the next chapter up, life is strange. ((ha) I am doing something for Halloween so hopefully, that counts) I did end up writing about half of this during work since I work in an exile in which I'm trapped in a tiny box and will maybe have four customers in an hour. But hey, Its like I got paid to write rather than have my brain leak out my ears.


	12. Monachopsis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Shoving three half-finished Au's under a matress* Oh, hello its may now. Whoops..... To be fair I did say I wasn't sure when the next chapter would come out. Looks like we were both surprised. Whats even more surprising is the fact that I'm not actually a mango

      The sandstorm had powered through most of the night and into the following morning. The dim lighting and dry air were enough to sap all energy from the room.  Fareeha had busied herself with gathering even more supplies and bringing them down to the lobby but she eventually settled on the floor by Angela. So far Chia had done little but attempt read various outdated magazines and stare reverently at Angela, by occasionally peeking her head above the protection of an oversized chair. It was if being too close to her childhood star would burn her, she would ask a few timid questions before ducking back down with nervousness.  Her initial excitement had worn down and she had eventually drifted off to sleep. Tripod however hobbled around the room endlessly, even when the small cat was out of sight Angela could hear him messing with some forgotten object or mewing at an unreachable string. There was still a palpable tension that lingered no matter what they did, waiting was not a particularly fun task. There had been a few moments when the storm would clear enough for light to peek through but it would be sucked away minutes later as the sand rushed back into the skies.  Her best guess was that is was late in the afternoon of the second day of the storm, and there were only a few dust devils and occasional gusts roaming the street at this point. The room was finally lit up enough to tell one hand from the other. “Fareeha,” She whispered not wanting to disturb the other form. “Mein Liebling.”

      Fareeha rolled over still clearing the fog from her head. “Yeah?”  

      Angela dropped a hand down and lazily flicked her forehead. “You know you don’t have to sleep on the floor when there are several couches in the room.”

      “They’re too far away,” A small smile drifted across Angela’s face as she watched Fareeha slowly sit and stretch out. “Hey, a picture would last longer.” Fareeha leaned forward propping her chin on the couch cushion.

      “I think you’re worth more than a thousand words. A photo would hardly be enough.”

      “You flatter me but there are only three words that come to mind when I see you.” Fareeha stood stretching her arms above her head a few pops and cracks escaped various joints, but mostly she just winced and wrapped an arm her suddenly aching torso. Sleeping on the floor really wasn’t treating her damaged ribs well. She took a moment to watch a weak cloud of sand blow past. She finally turned back grinning “Cute ass nerd.”

      “Oh, of course. I don’t know why I would be expecting you to say anything else.” Angela attempted a weak smile but it always turned more into a grimace.

      Fareeha wandered back to where she had stored all of the tech, not quite able to handle the wounded look. It was still a sore reminder of how much pain Angela was still hiding. “You keep forgetting to lower your expectations, but since you’re a little smelly and dirty I will grant forgiveness this time.” She began placing the various parts across the short table attempting to organize everything before starting. Across the room, Chia shifted her position with a jumbled murmur as she responded to something in a dream. Fareeha sighed and knelt facing her angel once more before starting,

      “Are you feeling okay though?” Fareeha asked tenderly a finger lightly bopping Angela’s nose, her face scrunched up in response. “You don’t have to keep covering up anything that’s hurting, or getting worse.”

      She hummed for a moment, “Define okay.” Fareeha's brow quirked up still waiting. "Is still breathing and acceptable answer? Without the Halo I can really only guess at what's happening but," her voice trailed off and her eyes just settled on a point on the roof. “Nothing good is going to happen if we are forced to keep waiting.”

      Fareeha frowned, “Well, get some rest. I’m assuming you’ve been storm-watching for quite some time now.” She dropped and kissed her forehead, but it could never be enough. She knew she should start working and use as much of the light as she could but there was still on nagging thought on the back of her mind. “Angela, we’re getting out of her soon. I promise,” Her hand curled itself under Angela’s ear. She dipped down pressing her mouth to Angela’s just as they had done so many times, after a failed mission, after waking up from a nightmare, after finally getting home from a long night out, after they had settled on a rooftop. Angela's breath had hitched for a moment and she feared she had accidentally hurt her, but a hand snaking back on her neck pulled her back into the kiss. Fareeha pulled away long enough to take a short breath before being greeted again and again by pleading lips, she wanted nothing more than to keep giving in to them. She shifted carefully her hand tracing down Angela’s arm until she was able to twine their fingers together. If only she was able to wrap her arms around Angela’s waist and pull her indefinitely closer, she was distracted by a tongue slowly working its way across her lower lip. Fareeha could practically feel the smirk behind it.

      "Maybe I feel a little okay now," Angela whispered, a hint of a smile still lingering in her voice.

      “God, I just need something to be normal again," Fareeha whined.

      Angela shifted so their noses were practically touching, "I thought normal for you was getting shot at, then eating questionable leftovers on the weekends.”

      “Sure. But you’re only supposed to be part of the questionable leftovers, not the shooting.”

      “I might shoot you if you keep eating garbage.” She weakly retorted.

      Fareeha slowly pulled further away a hint of a grin threatening her blank face. “That seems a little extreme.”

      Angela’s eyes were the only betraying feature to her serious demeanor. "Not as extreme as your breath afterward." Fareeha’s eyes crinkled as the corners of her mouth finally shot upward. Angela’s eyes were almost glowing at that point, her job accomplished she beckoned Fareeha back for another kiss. “Sometimes I really question what point we started to insult each other rather than flirt.”

      “Really? I thought they were the same thing since it took you so long to get the whole flirting memo to begin with.” Angela rolled her eyes in an attempt to ‘whatever’. “I love you,” Fareeha whispered brushing away a few stray hairs looking watching Angela like a lost pup. “I love you so much Angela. We’re getting out of here soon, because you still have a few countries to visit on your list. I’m not going to let that go uncompleted.” She whispered.

      "I know." Angela turned enough to kiss Fareeha's forehead, her hand brushing across Fareeha's arm as she took a few more shaking breaths. “I know I can trust you Liebling.”

**********

      “There is something wrong with this," Emily muttered fingers tapping the table as she watched Jessie call another raise and throw the chips out into the middle of the table.

      "What?" Lena flipped her attention over from the pretzel bowl to the simmering redhead. "Maybe he's just bluffing, that is part of the game." She said trying miserably to prevent bits of pretzel dust from tumbling out of her mouth.

      “If he was playing the game but the last four hands he’s had the exact cards necessary to win. That’s statistically, suspicious.” Emily’s laser eyes were boring hot holes into McCree’s soul but like a professional poker player, he didn't waiver.

      "Well, I’m not risking it with this garbage hand.” Lena tossed her cards back to the middle of the table. “Hana, is basty-boy still working on his project?” She yelled across the living room.

      “Yeah, It’s actually getting pretty intricate.” Bastion had recently been introduced to a reboot version of Minecraft, after creating a giant pixel replication of Ganymede he quickly shifted to retreating an entire binary computer of Redstone, Hana had to start saving it on external hard drives since the project was growing so fast.

      McCree bounced an unlit cigar on his knee. “Are you going to call me or not?”

      “I’m going to raise,” Emily pushed a decent stack of chips into the pot, her move was carefully calculated but caused a few brows to raise. “Also I think the oven should have gone off by now. Lena do you want to,”

      “Got it.” She blinked off in an instant her chair rocking back violently, a section of Emily’s hair lifted up from the sudden air displacement. She nonchalantly caught the chair and pushed it back to the ground as if it was second nature at this point. Lena was back and dropped a steaming pizza on the bar before another bet could be made.

      Emily held out a hand. “Slice me.”  Lena obliged passing a piece of the Hawaiian pizza. She took a methodical bite waiting for McCree to state his next more. All attention had been drawn to the poker duel.

       "Intimidation doesn't work on me sweetheart, I call." He pushed a stack in then folded his arms. "Keep throwing your money in, I’d love to take it all home.”

      “You keep telling yourself that.” She could faintly see the reflection of his cards in the window behind, a trick one picks up having two older brothers, it wasn’t dark enough outside to get a perfect view but she had a pretty good idea. Hana had even moved to the bar to spectate the sharp remarks that were being tossed back and forth. There were still only four cards on the table, the fifth and final could be more than enough to ruin Emily’s plan. “Raise.”

      "Babe, what do you even have?" Lena asked attempting to rubberneck her way around and see Emily's two cards. She dropped them on the table to prevent Lena from peeking.

      “No offense, but you have an awful poker face. I will say that one of them is red.”

      McCree huffed from across the table. “Oh sure, one of them is red.” He said mockingly, “You know what? All in, flip the last card or give up now.”

      Emily grin reached a Cheshire peak, he had finally taken the bait. “Call.” She flipped the fifth and final card over. He tossed his cards down,

      “Ha, you thought I was bluffing! The last one gives me three of a kind.”

      She flipped her cards, showing a second seven on top, “So it does, but I have a pair and.” She slid off the card to reveal the fourth jack, "Three of a kind."

      There was half a second of silence before the entire room burst into an uproar of cheering. Lena had lept out of her chair with both hands on her face, mouth and eyes wide open. Hana raised a slice of pizza cheering that McCree had finally been dethroned. Bastion probably had no Idea what was happening but he contributed a flurry of excited beeps. McCree stuttered, his face taking on a red glow,

      “What, now that has to.” His hand quickly swept back his hair. “I’ve been setting up for the win for the last six rounds and you just destroy it all like that?! Lena, what the hell do you feed this kid?"

      Lena dove into another slice of pizza. “For the most part she feeds me, my cooking’s absolute shit.” At this point Hana had crumpled to the couch still cackling at McCree’s hurt expression. He looked at the cards on the table pouting.

      “There has to be some clever trick you pulled. No one just goes all in like that.” He finally slowed down and was no longer tripping over the words. “That’s the kind of garbage Fareeha always pulled, I can’t believe,” Everyone stopped abruptly the silence cut through the air in seconds and as quickly as the room had erupted it died again. He came back mumbling an apology.

      Hana interrupted him before the awkward tension could linger. “She really did pull those stunts when playing. It’s good to knock your ego down once in a while.” She said with a weak laugh. “Good to know she wasn’t the only one who could pull that off.”

      “Yeah, that’s right! Knock those egos around Emily. We all know he wears that stupid hat to cover his head when it’s getting too big." Lena danced around the table attempting to knock his worn hat off the counter.

     McCree swiped it away and slammed it on top of his crown before Lena could touch it. "It's fashionable." He retorted.

     “In what century.” Emily threw back.

     “You’re all just a bunch of city rats. Try powering through a Mexican sandstorm without one of these.”

     “Would you ladies stop fighting,” –Hana shouted over the sharpened remarks- “the season finale of ImNick is starting.” They were interrupted by a sudden burst of theme music as she cranked up the volume.

     “I call the recliner!” Lena said still prowling through the fridge.

     “First come first serve," McCree said rapidly making his way to the coveted lazy boy. He was defeated by a bright flash and Lena smirking as she lounged on top of the faded green throne. “There is no way that’s fair.”

     “Come on Lena, that is a little brash," Emily said settling on the large couch.

     “Ugh, fine.” She took her time getting out of her seat and trudging to join Emily instead. “The views better over here anyway.”

     "Seriously guys, be quiet," Hana said throwing pretzels at the loudest offenders. This group was unquestionably more chaotic than she was used to but there was still comfort in having something normal happen. They finally settled down, and even Bastion was content to watch whatever mishaps were occurring on screen. Even Ana was able to show up a few minutes after it started with dessert. She blamed traffic but it was likely she had been out sleep darting petty criminals. Inside they were all still hurting but at least they can put that aside for a few moments now, perhaps a full minute tomorrow.

********

     “So, like how do you guys know each other?”

     Fareeha’s focus broke and her head snapped up. “Sorry, what.”

     Chia pushed tripod away before he could try to jump up on the table again. “You don’t seem like the medical type so you guys know each other from, somewhere else.”

     Fareeha took a deep breath biting her lip to hold in a laugh. “You could say we, somewhere else.” Due to mass criticisms and a never-ending media coverage they had decided it to keep the whole marriage thing away from prying eyes. Especially considering the fact they could never come up with a good explanation of how a world-class doctor and a military captain from different parts of the globe would meet. Chia’s dark eyes were still staring critically into Fareeha’s soul. “Would you believe me if I said we met through illegal humanitarian aid and associated activities?”

     Her eyes narrowed. “Debatable.”  Eventually, she sighed and let her forehead fall to the table. “I thought my life before was boring. I’d go through med-school again if it meant I could get out this.”

     “And I would skinny dip in the fountain outside the dean’s office.”

     Chia’s head popped off the table. “You what?”

     “You heard me right.” Fareeha flinched as a few sparks spewed out as she pressed the receiver into place. “It was before winter break, in Canada.” Her mouth crawled up into a wicked grin. “Surprisingly, I was the sober one in the group.”

     She threw her head back cackling, arms wrapped around her stomach. "Of all the people I would imagine saying that it would not have been you."

     “What is that supposed to mean? The only thing you’ve done is try to kill me. Sorry if you didn’t expect me to be a dumb teenager at one point.”

     “Technically you did break down my door wearing a burglars mask in the middle of the biggest storm we've had in years. There really wasn't a whole lot to go off of."

     “What is with doctors and technicalities?” Fareeha mumbled twisting a pair of wires together.

     “It’s to avoid getting sued.”

     Fareeha nodded, “Fair point.” Chia excused herself to use the restroom and the room fell into silence. Well for the most part. For years Fareeha had slept in dorms, barracks full of soldiers and just about every other hole in the wall. Yet Angela was the only person she knew that would swear quite liberally in her sleep. Only now that odd habit increased every time she unconsciously attempted to move only to find that no position was comfortable. Fareeha frowned as a new string of curses in every language floated through the air behind her. She had been working in the same hunched position for far too long and her entire body was screaming for some inkling of good posture. Her eyes were starting to twitch and un-focus at random intervals from the strain of staring at the same points for such a long period of time.

     Even with all that she still held her breath every time she braided a set of wires together, it was if any abrupt movement would cause them to burst into flames. At this point, the makeshift love-child of a radio looked like a mess of circuit brains spilling off the side of her cracked helmet. That would be a great topic for the next team meeting, “What if we worked on having more uniform communication equipment so if something breaks, and we could fix it with limited recourses?” Her mind wandered to the actual topics at some of those meetings. Like, who broke the window in the training room, what brand of coffee to buy for the base, inside jokes of promoting Ganymede to a captain, that one very intense game of beer pong. Chia had returned and was idling wandering around the room inspecting the dusty hotel décor.

     “Shit!” A few bad wires sparked sending a painful jolt from Fareeha’s hand all the way to her shoulders. The involuntary jump caused her to knock almost everything off the table. "Goddammit," Fareeha whined carefully pulling everything back up hoping to not damage anything any further.

     “You’re not supposed to swear. There are children here.” Angela muttered half asleep still.

     “Coming from you I find that a tad ironic, and you’re not even wrinkly today.”

     Angela let out a long sigh. “I’m just going to ignore that last part since I think it just caused more physical pain then my actual physical pain.”

     “Well then. Don’t ask to go flying ever again, if I’m such a burden on your health.” Fareeha didn’t have to turn around to see a massive eye-roll.

     “Fareeha please give me my gun so I can shoot you.”

     “Request denied. I think you will just have to,” Fareeha’s voice suddenly stopped as she leaned close to the table.

     “What?” Angela inquired at the abrupt atmosphere change.

     Fareeha turned her voice hardly passing a whisper. “Can you hear it?” She grinned. “I’m picking up static.” Angela tilted her head as if to have a better chance at hearing the soft buzz coming from the technical mess. Fareeha quickly moved to secure everything and suddenly the volume jumped loud enough to pull Tripods interest. “Looks like we might go flying soon after all. Hey Chia?”

     “Yeee?” Chia yeeed from behind the couch.

     “Hang out here for a while. I’m going to the roof since we might finally have a signal.”

********

     “Wait, you what?!” Chia gasped in shock. In the last hour she had finally begun to break from her shy attitude and in turn, was quizzing Angela on every subject she had worked with. But this answer was unexpected.

     “Gods,” Angela lightly laughed. “I can’t believe Fareeha didn’t say anything about that. She really is a problem sometimes.”

     “Okay but, what?!” Chia’s hands fluttered through the air searching for something to grasp since her mind still couldn’t. “How does no one know that you two are married? You’re like the most frequently trending name in medical and humanitarian news.”

     “Plenty of people know, family, friends and the accountant that helps files our taxes.” She trailed off. “The general public, on the other hand, is not always good at separating gossip from progress. Every interview goes from how can this help the world to, -how do you manage to do twice as much laundry, and keep working.”

     “I can only imagine how much work it would take to hide that.” Chia sighed.

     “We don’t need to hide it, we just aren’t very public about it. There are a few cases of people debating why I’ve had the same bodyguard for the past years in an industry where they rotate daily. I’ll give you a hint,” Angela turned slightly one hand touching to the corner of her mouth to hide the whisper. “I kind of like her."  Chia could vaguely remember a few photos with a straight-faced suited figure in the background of various publicized events. She had begun to absently run her hand in circles across her belly.

     “I guess that makes sense. But I still don’t get how an Egyptian military captain and a constantly traveling doctor could even meet you know?" That statement took much longer for Angela to respond to. Chia was suspicious that Angela had fallen asleep due to her slowly weakening voice.

     “I technically guess we met decades ago as children. But really she broke into my office one day and continued to keep appearing in places she wasn’t supposed to be. It’s probably best to say traveling for  humanitarian aid rather than explain the alternatives."

     “Alternatives?”

     “Illegal humanitarian aid?” Angela’s voice rose suspiciously at the end.

     “Ughh!” She groaned throwing her head back, “My cat gives better answers then the two of you, and he can’t even talk.”

     “There’s quite a bit you can say without using words.”

     “Like the fact that it’s never reported how much of a nuisance you are to interview?” That earned a weak chuckle. The room fell into a deep silence, an even longer pause then the last. Tripod seemed to feel left out and hopped onto the table demanding attention with loud and persistent mews. In a way, Chhavi had always considered herself a fangirl of the famed "Dr. Ziegler". Many students at her school were considering large donations had been given in the form of scholarships for all of them. In the last few years, she had produced more research than had been done for nearly a decade. It was almost coming at a rate similar to the years that Overwatch was in its prime, unfortunately, that had been shut down. . .

     “That’s the illegal humanitarian isn’t it?” She spoke out loud, more to herself than anything. "Overwatch was disbanded but all of the technology wasn't destroyed. No single hospital has all of the tech that they did, so from a research perspective it would be easy to assume you don’t work in a hospital lab anymore.”  Another moment as she took a breath. “Some of the soldiers came back claiming a gorilla is what broke their arms. No one believed them since they had already been given plenty of pain meds. Sounds crazy until you consider that a Gorilla once led the research in a similar crime-fighting organization, that you were once a part of.”

     “Is it that obvious? We really should tone it down.”

     “So you admit Overwatch is back?”

     “I didn’t say anything about it. I also feel like you’ve been asking more questions than is fair. You make it sound like you think what you were doing was a crime?”

     "You guys were all crime-fighting it up without knowing what was happening throughout Raput? How would you have even known to come here in the first place, all communication and internet lines outside the region were cut a good eight months ago.”

     Angela’s face slowly scrunched up as she focused in on a brown stain on the ceiling. “From what I know we had observed a decrease in communication but I think it was the sudden spike of weapons trafficking to the area. But that would make sense with the ongoing civil wars.”

     “Well that was your royal president’s army for you,”-Chia scoffed- “There’s no problem with using the nations own armies to terrorize its own citizens but heaven forbid they used guns that can be traced back to them.” A moment of silence passed and Angela’s frown had only deepened. “You honestly didn’t know that before coming to help?” Her voice had softened considerably.

     “I can’t say any of us knew that.”

     “Well,” She sighed, “For one thing Raput is poor. And is so big it's nearly impossible to provide for everyone with a  government so small it can barely keep its own roads patched. They really have no resources to trade and no foreign donations would be large enough to help the smallest of its communities. But donations always increase when nations feel pity, and what's more pitiful than a poor town being terrorized by an extremist group. Nations all around throw their money in support of the poor people of Raput, but no one sends in soldiers since they don't want another war to break out over a squabble. Occasionally they send footage to news stations of family's being held hostage or a building collapsing to new stations to bring in another round of foreign care. The armies have to keep a constant watch on the poorest of the poor to make sure they don't blow the whistle on the whole operation."

     “And you worked for it?”

     “NO, no, nono. Not intentionally. With how bad the communication blackouts were I didn’t even know it was fake until a few months ago. Why do you think I would run away and try to get out on the next rotation? It wasn’t until stupid fucking Daven started talking about his pay when getting back that I realized just what was happening.” She took in a sharp breath attempting to calm down but was interrupted by an unusual response.

     Angela let out a stiff laugh. “The one mission that I end up like this and it’s all for a scam. What the actual hell.”

********

     Fareeha had always loved the sound of static. A shapeless buzz in the background, the sound of black and white screens. Many remote areas she had served in still used VHS tapes and 200 pound TVs for entertainment. A film would end and the screen would go blank filling the room with the blurred tones. Late at night in a room of sleeping soldiers the multiple sources of snoring overlapped into one symphony of static blandness. Static was the noise between safety and an approaching ambush. Too much silence meant someone was keeping it that way for a reason. There were the days staying behind in a control room, watching over a team on the field. Static was good, it meant they were within range and still alive.

     Fareeha scrunched up under the makeshift shelter. The sun was beginning to dip further into the sky shrinking the shadow she was seeking refuge in. There was probably two more hours before she was engulfed in total darkness and would be forced downstairs again. The bastard radio child sat buzzing away picking up nothing. This is one of the rare cases where the static was intolerable. It was hot boring and intolerable. So basically, fuck you static.

     Every ten seconds or so Fareeha would tweak the frequency channel resulting in a louder burst of static. As result of boredom, she had even begun poorly beatboxing to keep time, and include the loud burst in the beat. That was entertaining for far too long. Good thing there was no one to witness the event. (Locals and music critics alike.) She shifted once more into the shrinking shadow practically pulling her legs flat against her chest. That worked for a few seconds till a sharp pain sparked through her chest.

     “Well, damn.” Fareeha pouted rubbing the sore spot. She gave up on the shadow and sprawled on the rooftop like the world’s largest overheated starfish. One hand on the radio and the other tapping nonsense into the dust. “I miss my wife! Someone answer this god damn phone already!” Fareeha screamed into the sky. The women downstairs bore hardly any resemblance to what she loved. It was chipping away at her strength to Angela falling apart and the only thing she can even do to help is push a button over and over again in hopes that someone will hear the same buzz she will be stuck with for god knows how long. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also went through and did some edits on previous chapters. APPARENTLY, the middle of the last paragraph on chapter five got cut out. No one was like 'hey mango this is ackward'. Its fine not like that was supposed to be a dramatic cliffhanger where someone gets shot out of the sky and falls to a possible death. Buuuut the same this also happened this chapter when I copied the text on to here. God only knows how many other times that happened, Hopefully, none.
> 
> ~Im going to try to get moving at a reasonable pace now that I actually have some time over the summer. Oh mighty gods of motivation grant me the strength I have the attention span of a
> 
> ~I also have mixed feelings about this chapter since I've previously goofed the pacing of the whole plot and I'm trying to get that back on track. But rather then try to edit and tweak for years I figured it was best to kick this child out of the house before it causes a more trouble, and hope it figures itself out.
> 
> Anywho feel free to leave any questions, comments and, alslkdjfeialkdf's below, Ill talk as long as you'll let me.


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